The 'Good war'
by UnderworldGuardianAnubis
Summary: Will our characters survive the unimaginable horrors of WW2? What twists await just around the corner? Highly suggested for thos who love to read action packed drama in a war that has characters to find a love in such a dark time. AxC, KxL, SxS, DxM.
1. Chapter 1

There was an uneasy peace throughout the world after World War one; a war that had left ten million men dead. A world war between coordinators and naturals, the naturals were always jealous of their genetically enhanced human beings that possess a number of unique traits: faster bodies, immunities to all diseases. They are physically and mentally stronger than the naturals. There is also a discrepancy of being a coordinator. Unwanted traits may occur when born. Unusual traits ranging from: different coloured hair and unusual eye colours. The naturals quickly became fearful of the coordinators, as a result conflict grew between nations over the issue of harvesting more coordinators. Empires such as: the German Empire, Austria Empire, Ottoman Empire was for the coordinator harvesting. France, Britain, USA, Russia knew of their intentions and deployed their troops. When the aggressive nation of Germany attacked France and then Russia, the world plunged itself into a World War. A new type of war was fought; trench warfare.

The butchery and horrors of trench warfare had left tens of thousands dead within a year, hundreds of thousands within another year, millions in the next and finally, ten million during the next two years. Germany and its allies called an armistice, ceasefire was agreed. Germany and its allies were punished for causing war. Germany was economically ruined and militarily reduced to a mere police force. An uneasy peace between the coordinators and the naturals lasted for decades, until PLANT Germany flared up under the dictatorship of Gilbert Durandal. He desired a perfect race, a superior race, thus he looked to the coordinators as they were the dominant species. Hitler's aggressive actions plunged the world into another world scale war. The Allied powers consisting of: Britain, France, America and Russia faced the Axis forces consisting of: PLANT Germany, fascist Italy and Imperialist Japan. The united Allied forces were unified under the ORB union. The united Axis military forces were known as ZAFT. This war was destined to be bloodier than the first.

On the Allied side, Cagalli Yula Athha, the representative and princess of ORB was only twenty when she inherited the right to rule ORB when her father had died. Her twin brother: Lieutenant Kira Yamato was at the front lines of the never ending conflict, he was a coordinator, whereas his sister was a natural. Kira was a highly skilled tank ace; the best Allied tank ace. His tank was named: "Freedom". His tank was the single-manned M-26 Pershing tank, given to him by his girlfriend Lacus Clyne. Lacus Clyne was the supplier of tanks and aircraft for the ORB union. Her parents business was called: Clyne motors. It was obvious to everyone that Kira is definitely a coordinator.

Although he had natural brown hair, he had light purple eyes, he was too kind and generous for anyone to hate him, natural or coordinator, they all liked him for who he is. His twin sister on the other hand did not show much of a feminine side. She did not wear any skirts or dresses, instead wore plain clothes; mostly a T-shirt and jeans. She was seen as a tomboy by Kira and most of her friends. Her temper was always high and ready to explode at any moment; even Kira feared her and knew very well not to disturb Cagalli while she was angry, the last time Cagalli got angry, Kira tried to calm her down, but Kira almost became dead meat when Cagalli chased Kira around the house with a butcher's cleaver.

Both Cagalli and Kira were raised by different families. Their father had died and their mother could not afford to keep the family running, so as a result, Kira went to the Yamato family and Cagalli went to the Athha family when they were born. They both met at a dinner party hosted at the Athha manor. Both where completely shocked when they found out.

On the Axis side, in the ZAFT military, a coordinator: Sergeant Athrun Zala. His unique traits were obvious that he was a coordinator. He had midnight blue hair and emerald green eyes. Like Kira he was very kind hearted and warm. The only problem was, Athrun was filled with propaganda that Nazi Germany fed him while he was in the ZAFT military. He was the best Axis tank ace at the age of only twenty. His father was a General in the Nazi high command so Athrun was very well known publicly and militarily. Athrun named his tank "Savior", owning the single-manned Panther IV tank, given to him by his father. His tank was marked with double crossed swords.

Only those with exceptional skill and experience could be able to man these single crew tanks. Unlike Kira, Athrun was given military training. Kira was only taught basic training; shooting and fitness training. In comparison, Athrun was taught everything from: extremely accurate marksmanship, hand to hand combat, survival training, sub-human fitness and psychological fitness. He was trained by the ZAFT paratroopers called: "Fallshirmjager". Elite German paratroopers, the only Allied unit that could outflank and outmaneuver them were the American 101st Airborne paratroopers. Easy Company was the best company out of: Dog, Fox and Able Company.

The best of the best was 2nd platoon. Their commanding officer: "The Major" was the best tactical field commander and a strategically genius in military history. His tactical successes were ousting the ZAFT into submission.

Cagalli Yula Athha had been requested to come to an Allied HQ for a political meeting with the Allied President Simeon and Prime Minister Buskirk.

But to get to the Allied HQ, Cagalli needed to fly over hostile skies where she risked being shot down and captured. Although the Allies had dominated the skies, enemy flak guns and artillery positions were concealed and difficult to spot. These flak 88mm guns had shot down many Allied planes, so therefore, Cagalli went over the Axis skies in the cover of darkness. Midway through her flight, the searchlights spotted her transport plane and began shooting 88mm projectiles, as the plane took a direct hit, Cagalli jumped out of the plane unleashing her parachute. She was forced to land in enemy territory armed with only a colt 45 pistol. She was more of a long range type, she loved the M1 Garand due it its relatively high rate of fire and accuracy, but she did not have it with her.

Athrun Zala and his crew were one of many squads assigned to look for the enemy that had landed in their glorious 'Fatherland'.


	2. Chapter 2

The night was filled with dark and cold. Cagalli landed armed with only a colt 45 with only thirty five rounds of .45 bullets. She was aware of the dangerous situation she was in. She had taken an army battle vest before jumping out of the plane. This army vest had two M2 frag grenades and one day rations with a one litre canteen. As she unbuckled her parachute, Cagalli heard the roar of tanks in the distance, three vehicles were approaching, Cagalli decided to run low and hide on top of a nearby tree. As the tanks got nearer and nearer with their headlights on, she noticed that one of the tanks had double crossed swords marked on the side of it. She knew that it was the feared ZAFT tank destroyer ace.

As the tanks stopped beside the tree that Cagalli was in, the tank drivers got out. Cagalli seemed to have her eyes fixed on Athrun. His long, midnight blue hair had attracted her attention. They seemed interested in the parachute she left behind. Athrun knew that the allied representative was around. "The representative can't have gone far. That swine must be around here somewhere." The others agreed. Cagalli dared not to make a noise.

Finally, Athrun gave out the orders. "You two search the farm area three miles from here to the South. I'll be searching this sector." "YES SIR!"

The two tankers had moved out of her sight. Athrun was still roaming the area. He had his P-38 pistol with him. He was twisting and turning his head, being cautious. Cagalli cocked her colt 45 back slowly, making sure she didn't make a noise to alert the enemy. As she cocked back, Athrun heard and turned towards Cagalli's direction hastily, but before Athrun could fire at Cagalli, she fired first and made a direct hit on Athrun's pistol. Athrun dived for cover behind a nearby tree, he pulled out his knife and took a defensive stance. Cagalli slowly walked towards Athrun's direction knowing that his gun was completely destroyed by her lucky shot. Athrun picked up a small rock, no bigger than a mans fist. He threw the rock in front of Cagalli, when Cagalli saw this, she dived behind her tree thinking it was a grenade. Athrun then sprinted towards the forest. Cagalli waited for the 'grenade' to explode, she waited thinking it was a dud, but when she saw Athrun making a break towards the forest, she knew that she was tricked. She fired seven rounds at Athrun, all of them missed. Cagalli sprinted toward the forest after him.

As she approached the forest, she heard rustling noises in the distance, she shot seven rounds at where the sounds came from and reloading quickly. Darkness had covered Athrun's escape. As she roamed the forest hunting for the great tank ace, she felt as if she were the one being hunted. She was surrounded by rustling noises shooting everywhere. This continuous cycle continued for ten minutes. Cagalli quickly wasted twenty eight rounds and had only a full clip of ammo left. But before she could reload, Athrun jumped out from the side and kicked the pistol from her hand. Cagalli drew back as the Athrun picked up her colt 45 and put it in his gun belt. He then slowly approached Cagalli with his knife in front ready to gut her, Cagalli was frightened. As Athrun approached her, she moved away from Athrun. His eyes were full of lust towards any Allied soldier. Athrun then pounced diving on top of Cagalli pinning her down, Athrun raised his knife ready to gut his prey to death. As Athrun thrust his knife towards Cagalli, she caught Athrun's hands and tried pulling back, but Athrun quickly overpowered her. Athrun pointed his knife at Cagalli's throat. Cagalli let out a scream. Athrun looked bewildered. "A girl?" as Athrun froze in one position, his knife in the same position, Cagalli screamed out. "That's right, I'm a girl!" Cagalli stated "So what?"

Athrun was lost in the middle of the forest, Cagalli's hands were tied and she was left to hang upside down under the support of a tree trunk. Athrun thought of hanging the representative, but he knew that his orders were to bring her back to the interrogation room back at the castle of Colditz. Cagalli shouted: "Why are you doing this to me? This is inhumane!" Athrun smirked, replying: "Oh well, I can't be bothered freeing you all the way up there. You might as well get comfortable up there. Enjoy!"

Cagalli aggressively said: "Hey! This isn't right. Let me down! When I break free I'm gonna slap you so hard, you'll be flying." Athrun couldn't help but laugh while Cagalli was swinging everywhere while threatening Athrun. While Athrun was out to check their current position and find firewood, Cagalli reached for a small blade in her back pocket. She started to cut the tight ropes to set her loose. She spent several minutes on one knot.

"This is harder than I thought."

As she got her arms loose she then cut the ropes around her legs, after minutes of cutting away, she got herself free. She landed hard on the ground face first. As she got up, Athrun had pointed the colt 45 at Cagalli.

"Looks like I didn't search you properly." Cagalli turned in fright, her amber eyes had met Athrun's emerald eyes and she was attracted to his midnight blue hair, she had never seen anyone with blue hair before, so she was quite fond of Athrun. Cagalli put her hands up. Athrun had searched her thoroughly this time. Ten blades were found altogether. Athrun ripped the vest off of Cagalli and set it ablaze around a small clearing.

This time around, Athrun let Cagalli free to roam around, but Athrun had a close eye on Cagalli. Athrun offered her a blanket that she took thankfully. Athrun raised a brow to look at Cagalli. "I've never heard a soldier scream like that before." Cagalli turned red with embarrassment. "I'm not a soldier. I'm Cagalli Yula Athha, the Princess of ORB." Cagalli corrected him. "Oh, looks like we've captured someone pretty important," Athrun raised his brow. "I'm Athrun, Athrun Zala." he finally introduced.

"It's too dark to check our current positions." Athrun said in a: as-a-matter-of-fact voice.

"I'm gonna take a little nap now." as Athrun yawned. "What? You're just gonna let the enemy roam around while you sleep? What if I take that gun from you? That means that I'll be capturing you." Athrun raised his brow, "You should know better than that. Because if you try to… I'll be forced to kill you. Do you want to know how? Simply by stabbing you continuously until you die." Athrun replied in a serious tone. She feared the idea of the enemy stabbing her over and over again until she was dead. When an hour passed, she had seen that Athrun was deep asleep, she took this chance to walk towards Athrun slowly and take the gun. She hesitated when her hands were only two inches away from the handgun. As Athrun woke up feeling a presence next to him, he opened his eyes in the realization that Cagalli tried to steal back the pistol to gain the upper hand.

Athrun was too late to react as Cagalli had taken the gun and his knife. The gun had been emptied of its bullets, Athrun deliberately did this knowing that Cagalli might try something to turn the events to her own favour. Athrun just never thought that she would take the knife with her. As Cagalli threw the gun into the bushes, she accidentally threw the knife with it. "You're disadvantaged in hand to hand combat," Athrun stated. "Give up now and I'll spare you." Athrun spoke in a cold voice. Tears came out of Cagalli's eyes. "I'm sorry." Cagalli charged at Athrun. Athrun easily caught Cagalli and pinned her to the ground. Cagalli closed her eyes waiting for Athrun to kill her, but Athrun did nothing, when she opened her eyes again, Athrun went to fetch her blanket. "Here's the blanket, stay here and don't do that again… Jeez what's wrong with you?" Athrun complained in an annoyed tone. "Sorry." Cagalli said looking bewildered.

Although Cagalli tried to kill Athrun once again, she was spared twice by Athrun. She felt obliged obey Athrun. She did as she was told and stayed put. She knew that the situation she was in was hopeless. She then noticed a large cut on Athrun's back.

"What happened to your back?" Athrun stared at Cagalli. "It's nothing." Cagalli jumped up. "Let me tend to that, after all I do owe you for sparing me twice already." Cagalli smiled to Athrun whom had smiled back. "Alright then, just don't try anything funny now." Athrun had warned her. "Yeah yeah, just stay still you idiot." Cagalli teased. After she tended Athrun's wound, sleep had overcome her.

Morning came all too soon. Cagalli woke up only to find soldiers binding her arms and dragging her onto a ZAFT vehicle with Athrun's tank following behind. As hours passed, the vehicle stopped at an old castle called 'Colditz'. The guards dragged Cagalli while Athrun followed them. "So, Sergeant Zala has captured the representative. Congratulations…Captain." An officer said from behind. Athrun saluted the officer as Cagalli was continually dragged into the castle. Inside was cold and dark, the lighting was dim, the feeling of this place was eerie and all was silent. All that could be heard were droplets of water and the scream of the tortured prisoners.

As the guards threw Cagalli into an empty prison cell, they remarked: "The war is over for you now dog! You've just forfeited your rights, you're a prisoner of war now.


	3. Chapter 3

Athrun had been promoted to Captain and was given an ace medal for capturing representative Athha. Chancellor Gilbert Durandal came to congratulate Athrun personally and presented him with a ZAFT service medal. Back at the castle of Colditz, the guards were having their fun with Cagalli. They kicked her again and again. They stripped her of her clothes and left her with only her bra and underwear. Cagalli started to cry for help, but no one was there to help her. The guards spat and insulted her. As Cagalli cowered in the corner of her cell, the guards beat her with their rifle butts, she was badly beaten and bleeding. She thought that she would live the rest of her days being beaten almost to death. Tears continually rolled down her delicate cheeks as the guards continued to beat her unconscious.

Meanwhile, Athrun had been called in to the castle of Colditz talk to one of the interrogating officers. As Athrun entered the castle, he found himself immediately lost. He had to ask a guard for directions, even thought he had tried using the map. When Athrun got to where he was requested, he was stunned to find that Cagalli was being tortured. His deep emerald eyes had reflected pure terror seeing the beautiful Princess tortured. Cagalli had been tied to the chair. Her interrogators kept asking questions that she did not know the answer to. "Where are the amphibious assaults taking place?" "I don't know!" As she said these words, the torturer pulled a lever releasing electricity that jumped and shocked her entire body; she screamed feeling every jolt of electricity passing through her body. Blood had spurted out of her mouth, Cagalli was shaking and she had difficulty breathing. The interrogators continued torturing Cagalli even though it was apparent that she had had enough.

"Ah, Captain Zala, we need to talk about the prisoner. She does not seem to be talking; she's giving no information that has any military relevance."

"Why are you torturing her?" Athrun asked angrily. "Why do you care? She's an enemy of the Axis powers. Did you forget that you are not supposed to have any compassion or mercy towards any enemy, boy or girl?" "She's human like us!"

In the distance, Cagalli's amber eyes met the emerald eyes of the hansom blue haired boy. For a fraction of a second, they had felt a warm connection to one another. She gave a faint, but bright smile before fainting. "Did you forget the terms of the Geneva conventions?" Athrun snapped. "I suppose we could make exceptions for… royal dogs." The torturer teased while Cagalli was dragged back to her cell. "You know Captain, we are in Colditz, not Geneva."

Days later, back in the allied HQ, Kira Yamato heard the news of his sister's capture. He felt helpless, as all he could do was wait and follow orders from his superior officers. He was ordered to: "Hold all strategic positions until a combined allied offensive was made to rescue the representative." Kira was approximately one hundred miles away from Colditz. Kira decided to go and rescue her sister despite the 'chain of command'. He planned to take with him a Thompson sub-machinegun with three hundred and thirty rounds of ammunition, a case of M2 frag grenades, three days rations, water and enough supplies of gasoline. He would halt four miles off Colditz, conceal his battle tank, storm the castle rescue Cagalli and get back to allied lines. As he passed through the axis lines, he said: "Screw chain of command!"

On the other side of the lines, Captain Athrun Zala was with his men having their lunch. Athrun could not eat a bite. His mind was filled with confusion and anger. But he could not help thinking about that time when those beautiful amber eyes of the Princess had met his own. There was an eternal feeling deep down in his heart. A light, comforting and warm feeling between them had risen from the ashes of uncertainty.

"There something wrong sir?" one of the privates said, as it was clear that Athrun was drifting away from reality. "No. There's nothing wrong private. I just don't feel hungry."

"I'll take that if you don't mind sir." "Very well private… and one word of advice, try to lay off that processed meat, if you eat too much, you'll be in the toilet for hours."

Athrun felt as if he needed to visit Cagalli. He couldn't help but to feel sympathetic towards her. As Athrun entered the castle of Colditz, he had to pass though many guards. It took ten minutes just to get approval. As Athrun approached Cagalli's cell, he was shocked to see what had happened to her. She was: beaten, battered and bruised all over, blood was coming out from her nose and mouth. She huddled in the corner of her cell with only her bra and underwear, barely enough to cover her. As a result, she was shivering from the low temperatures that the cruel castle provided.  
"Guard, leave us alone." Athrun ordered. "YES SIR!"

As Cagalli heard the cell door open, she jumped in terror. Her eyes reflected much suffering and pain she went through during the previous tortures. Her face was filled with desperation. "You again!" she said bewildered. "Just call me Athrun… Here, you look cold." as he handed her a woolen blanket. "Thanks…Athrun." Athrun was glad that he did not have to end up killing Cagalli. He remembered the first person he ever killed with his knife. It was a year ago in France, when a French soldier had attempted to bayonet him, Athrun kicked the French soldier's rifle and bayonet away and gutted him over and over until he was dead. Athrun deeply regretted ever killing anyone, but he knew it was a war. It was either: kill or be killed.

All Athrun could do was to stare at the beautiful blonde girl, despite her bruises. But what stood out the most was how poorly covered she was with only a bra and underwear. Athrun blushed, his blood started to boil looking at the thin, delicate Princess. The blush was all too visible. Cagalli flinched only to cover herself with the blanket whilst blushing. "PERVERT!" she cried as she slapped the blushing boy. "I don't think you're in a position to be doing that." smiled Athrun. "I'm in a position to be doing that to anyone, especially a pervert like you." Cagalli frowned at Athrun. "I'm hurt. No girl has every slapped me before. Even my mum never hit me." Athrun stated. "Well get used to it, you'll get a whole lot more if you keep it up." Cagalli stated with a bad temper.

Athrun smiled as he pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the blood off of Cagalli's bruised face. Cagalli furiously blushed like a bright red capsicum. As Cagalli finally came back to reality she snapped: "Don't do that! It probably had your own snot on that thing!" "Don't be so paranoid. That really hurt my feelings." Athrun replied sarcastically.

The fight dragged on for minutes.

Cagalli had felt comfortable whenever Athrun was around, it seemed as if she was no longer in the castle. "How's the food around here?"

"They haven't given me anything." Cagalli replied.

"WHAT? Don't worry, I'll have a talk with the interrogating officers. In the meantime, have this." Athrun handed her half a tube of biscuits. "Why are you doing this? I'm the enemy." "You're an enemy who doesn't deserve to be treated this badly." Athrun replied in such a soft tone that Cagalli started blushing. "Here take it." Cagalli felt thankful towards Athrun. She munched the biscuits down almost instantly. "Thanks, but you're helping the enemy. Won't they like… Kill you for helping me?"

"Since when was being generous a crime? Don't worry, I'll be back with more… Princess." Athrun spoke in a soft voice. "Grr, I really hate it when people call me that. Like I said, it's Cagalli you JERK!"

"I'll keep that in mind then. Don't worry Cagalli, I'll be back. I assure you, there will be less interrogation if none at all after I have a talk with the officer."

"Soldier! I want to talk to the commanding officer in charge here." Athrun ordered.

"Yes sir, just down the hall and into the left."

Athrun knocked on the door of Colonel Leopold Steiger. "Come in." as the Colonel busied himself in stacks of paperwork. "Ah, if it isn't the legendary Panther ace: Athrun Zala. How may I be of assistance Captain?"  
"Colonel, I would like your interrogators and your guards to stop torturing and beating representative Athha. She does not have any information of military importance, nor does she deserve such cruelty." The Colonel paying close attention looked like he didn't care.

"I wouldn't jump into hasty conclusions Captain. Just because that prisoner's a girl, doesn't mean that we should just ignore her. She's a politically important person back in the Allied capital. It's probable that she'll know anything and everything about the Allied military actions. We need to extract information from her, no exceptions Captain, she will be interrogated." The Colonel explained. "If she's to have an interrogator Colonel, let that interrogator be me." Athrun pleaded. "What? No! I will not allow it Captain, your place in this army is at the front, not interrogating prisoners."

"I understand Colonel, but I'm on a four day leave starting today. If you let me Colonel, perhaps I could interrogate her for the next three days." Athrun insisted.

"Very well Captain. You have two days starting tomorrow. If no information is extracted by then, we will have to continue with the tortures. You are dismissed!"


	4. Chapter 4

Athrun felt infuriated with the level of humanity shown to any prisoner, especially shown to Cagalli. Athrun knew that there was something amiss. There was something about the Third Reich and their ideals that made Athrun feel uneasy. Although Hitler had the most inspirational speeches he had ever heard, Hitler's ideas were extreme and revolutionary. He felt as if he and the rest of the countries under Axis control were brainwashed under Hitler's regime and the 'Thousand year Reich'.

Athrun saw something a year ago that he would never forget, something that still haunts him in his nightmares. A year ago, when Athrun was on a patrol roaming around enemy occupied territory, he saw Axis troops lining up captured allied prisoners against a wall, to his horror, he saw the commander taking out his Luger and shooting them all one by one. The helpless civilians were all locked into the local church and were then set ablaze. The screams of the helpless women and children were deafening. Athrun could do nothing but stare in horror as the screams died down along with that church. Over the years, Athrun had witnessed so many atrocities. He never spoke out against the Nazi regime, fearing that if he did, he would suffer the same fate. These nightmares kept haunting him night after night. Why did he not oppose Nazi regime in the first place?

Back at the castle of Colditz, Athrun had yet again visited Cagalli, bringing with him three slices of bread, tinned meat and a canteen of water. As Athrun entered the prison cell, Cagalli gave him a radiant smile. Her smile had seemed to brighten the dim, cold castle. Cagalli hadn't had expected Athrun so soon. Her eyes were purely fixed on Athrun's emerald green eyes. All she could do is sit and stare. "Well, hello again… Athrun." as she tried to hide her blush. The guard interrupted: "Sir, you have only twenty minutes, you have to leave at eight o'clock." Athrun replied: "Very well, leave us alone."

"Yes sir." The guard left obediently and locked the cell door as he left.

"How have they treated you lately?"  
"Well they stopped torturing me, but they still haven't given me a thing to eat."  
"I thought so… here, take these." as Athrun said passing Cagalli tinned meat and the few slices of bread. Cagalli hardly chewed the food before swallowing it. Athrun smiled as he watched Cagalli pigging out.

"You know Cagalli, now would be the best time to tell me anything about the Allied army. Do you know anything? Where will they attack?"

"I told you guys I don't know, if you want to torture me, fine! You won't get anything from me, 'cause I don't know." Cagalli stormed.

"The officer in charge here told me that I have two days starting tomorrow to try to get you to talk, if you don't, then they'll start the torturing again. These guys will continue to torture you until you're dead. Just tell me now before they torture you to death."

"You know it doesn't matter whether I live or die. If there's anyone to finish this war, it's gonna be my brother Kira." Cagalli explained. "Kira's your brother?" Athrun said in shock. "Yeah, do you know him?"

"Of course I do. I know him quite well. We knew each other since prep school. Years before this war started, we were best friends. We went to the same engineering University back in Tokyo. I got a scholarship to attend the University of engineering in Berlin. So we pretty much had to split up… Say what's he doing now?" Athrun curiously asked.

"Kira's a tank destroyer. In fact he's the best tank ace in the entire Allied army."

"WHAT? He's the one that we've been looking for?" Athrun shouted.  
"Oops!" as Cagalli blocked her mouth with her hands.

"That's all we wanted, I'll have to report this. Unfortunately we have to… terminate his current position." Athrun hastily replied.

"You tricked me! So this is what you do. Small talk me into giving out information."  
Cagalli slapped Athrun multiple times screaming at him before an armed guard came in. The guard got the butt of his Mauser, K-98 rifle and struck Cagalli in the chest. Cagalli fell to the ground crying in pain. "I'm very sorry about the attitude of the prisoner sir."

"GET OUT NOW!" Athrun screamed from the top of his voice. "Yes s-sir." the guard exited nervously. "Are you ok Cagalli?" Athrun suddenly said in a soft tone. Cagalli clutched her chest in pain while she coughed out blood. Tears had started to water down her delicate cheeks as she started to sob uncontrollably. "Look at me Cagalli. I promise you, Kira will not be harmed as long as I'm around." Athrun sincerely said convincingly.

Cagalli did nothing but sob at the corner of her dark, cold prison cell. Cagalli felt as if Athrun had manipulated her. Although she had been deceived many times before, she never felt like she felt now. "I'm sorry Cagalli, I have to go now." Athrun regrettably said. As Athrun left Colditz, he felt guilty knowing that Cagalli was hurt not by the guard's hands, but by his own.

Meanwhile, ninety one miles away, Kira was advancing towards Colditz behind enemy lines alone. He had decided that moving throughout Axis controlled territories during daylight would be a suicide attempt, so a night advance tactic was used with caution. When daylight approached, Kira would camouflage his tank to look like a large shrub or hedgerow, and then would camouflage himself until darkness consumed the area.

Most of the Axis territories were mostly agricultural plains and hedgerows, so there were not many major road blocks. But the Axis troops would regularly patrol all sectors of their territory. If Kira wanted to rescue his sister, he would have to move quickly and silently avoiding detection if possible.

As Kira had moved across the Axis countryside that night, he met little resistance. A squad of the enemies 'Volksgrenadier' had not seen Kira's tank. Thinking that the tank was a friendly, they welcomed Kira. But Kira knew that if he let them go, they could inform Axis HQ of his whereabouts if they found out. Kira got out of his tank and squeezed a full magazine of the Thompson sub-machinegun at the enemy. All of them were immediately killed. Kira had gathered the enemy weapons and ammo, just in case he ran out on the way to Colditz. He gathered the MP40 sub-machinegun with six magazines of ammo and the Mauser, K-98 with five clips of ammo. He had also acquired Nazi uniforms, going deeper into enemy lines with Nazi uniforms would be easier. The dead bodies were piled up into the nearby forest. As he assumed his advance towards the castle, he found that the deeper he got into enemy territory, the greater the enemy resistance would be.

Athrun went to rent out a room at the military motel. Athrun had only three days left of RnR (Rest and Relaxation) before he was sent back into the front lines again. His company commander thought that a little well deserved rest from endless numbers of battles would be helpful. Athrun got recognition from his commander especially after capturing representative Attha. He was one of very few soldiers to be picked for RnR, since the war was going rather badly for the Axis. Athrun parked his tank in the motel garage and then stayed up for half an hour to write a report to Colonel Steiger about the results of the interrogation and the information extracted. Athrun still had a guilty conscience. He kept thinking about Cagalli, he was wondering if she still hated him, or if she stopped crying. He decided to give her a day to cool down. After finishing the report, he lay on his soft feather bed, sleep had quickly overcome him.

_The sky was covered with smoke, the once tall and clean buildings were reduced to smoldering ruins. Athrun was roaming the once proud city streets. Countless bodies were lying around. On patrol, Athrun came across a squad of 'Waffen SS' soldiers who had rounded up French and British soldiers who had surrendered. The squad officer had ordered them to be lined up against the wall. The officer pulled out his Luger pistol and then he shot the French and British soldiers one by one. Later that day, the Waffen SS had rounded up all the women, children and the elderly into a nearby church. Those who could not walk due to being disabled or was simply too badly wounded were immediately shot. For the remaining survivors, the entrances and exits were barricaded. An SS trooper poured gasoline all around the church, as the commanding officer set the church ablaze, the women and children started murmuring amongst themselves, as the fire reached the windows, the women started shouting for help, as the fire consumed the inside of the church, the women and children started to scream, the soldiers only burst out laughing. The screaming got louder and louder and louder and…_

"AHHH!" Athrun awoke from his nightmare. He was panting and sweating, his dark emerald eyes were wide open reflecting the full horrors that he had experienced. He had these dreams every night, image upon image were the same the night before as they will be the next night, which was certain to happen. The only way that Athrun could cease these nightmares from occurring was to either: Not sleep at all, or drink himself to a blank, empty, peaceful sleep. Athrun helped himself to a bottle of the finest and the most popular Scotch whisky called the 'Vat 69'. It was his favourite drink, capable of knocking him out with two full glasses.

The army was not meant to be able to have alcohol present, but with Athrun's current position as Captain and the best Axis tank destroyer, he was an exception.

Athrun gave five good droughts of the Vat 69 before he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Kira had traveled throughout the Axis countryside for hours. An hour before sunrise, Kira had covered his M-26 Pershing tank destroyer with thick branches and small trees. Not a single square inch of the Pershing's steel plate was seen, the 90mm gun on the Pershing was completely covered with branches and leaves. Now Kira's tank looked more like a bush than a tank. Kira was too tired to find cover some place else and camouflage himself, he decided to rest in his tank, but first he had to move it to some place safe, he moved the tank behind a hedgerow. Confident that he was too well camouflaged for the enemy to see him, Kira slept almost instantly. He had the rest of the day to plan out his tactics and the manner of how to accomplish his objectives.

At Colditz, Cagalli cried herself to sleep. She had thought that Athrun was a decent person. But she changed her mind when Athrun made her expose the fact that Kira was the legendary tank ace. Kira was now the most wanted Allied soldier. The Axis had the best snipers that could get a head shot from a mile away without a scope. Cagalli thought that Kira was in more danger than he had ever been. If Kira was in danger, Allied victory would prove harder. The Axis forces are now on the defensive, they have low resources and their troops are not properly supplied. Their 'Luftwaffe' (Nazi air force) is a mere shadow of a once grand and powerful air force. Their great battleship: the 'Bismarck', the great pride of the Nazi navy is sunk, along with its sister battleship: the Tirpitz. They have no air support and hardly any artillery support, only mere mortar barrages. The Russians are advancing from the East, while the Americans and British attack from the West. The Axis military was desperate to turn the tide of the war and settle for peace as their manpower is fast dwindling. Gilbert Durandal kept demanding the Axis Generals and Commanders to launch a counter offensive on the Allied forces time after time. Although the Axis was suffering militarily, their cities and towns had not been affected. Taverns and inns were still on high demand. Cafés, restaurants and diners were still open. There was little food restrictions because Gilbert Durandal wanted the Axis to think that their mighty army is still marching to an 'honourable' victory in both the West and East.

The Axis had created revenge weapons called the V2 rockets. These new terrifying weapons were too inaccurate to hit military targets, so they were used to a terrible effect on civilian targets. Entire cities such as London and Paris were targeted. They were bombed again and again. These new terrifying weapons were killing more civilians than soldiers dying on the battlefield everyday. Due to these bombings, the Allies sent in an elite team of paratroopers. They called in the 101st airborne paratroopers of Easy Company. Among the U.S paratroopers were: 'The Major' serial number 10387, Corporal Stellar Loussier serial number 20438, Sergeant Shinn Asuka serial number 14737 and Lieutenant C. Jensen serial number 93707. They had succeeded in destroying a V2 rocket base deep in enemy territory in Germany. They were the only survivors out of a full platoon; Major Park took command of what remained of the squad. To add to the disaster, they were also being tracked down by the ZAFT and the Waffen SS.

The Major had moved his squad out in the cover of darkness. The squad had moved from cover to cover. "Loussier! Loussier! Gimme the map." The Major whispered. The Major looked at the map looking confused. "Where is our current position Lieutenant Jensen? I can't read a damn thing." Lieutenant Jensen pointed out: "You're holding the map upside down sir." trying his best not to laugh. The Major examined the map for several minutes before taking a plan of action. "Alright squad, we are about three miles off the city of Dortmund. We'll have to go around the edge of that city and avoid the main roads. The Germans have road blocks all over: Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Bonn. There's a high chance that we'll all get into a little tussle with the Krauts (Slang for German) at the Dusseldorf autobahn, we have no choice but to take out the Kraut patrols. After that, all hell will break loose. We don't have much ammo left, so either save your ammo, or take the Kraut guns after you've killed 'em. Any questions?" The Major asked. "Can we get our lunch at Dortmund?" Corporal Loussier asked. Everyone laughed silently. The Major chuckled, replying: "I'll consider it if you're cooking Loussier." Everyone continued laughing. "Alright squad, we have about five hours 'till daylight, lets make the most of it. From now on, no one breaks silence. Use hand signals to communicate, or if you really need to, whisper to one another."

The squad of paratroopers moved swiftly and silently around the enemy countryside. As the squad saw an enemy patrol, they would find cover and wait for the patrol to march past their positions.

As two hours had passed, the squad had stopped to rest in the tree lines of the Saar forest. The troopers were panting and were exhausted. The Major whispered: "Alright squad, you have fifteen minutes to rest up." The troopers had all grabbed their canteens and drank little amounts of water. Corporal Stellar Loussier and Lieutenant Jensen were equipped with the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle. Major Park had both the Thompson sub-machinegun, while Sergeant Shinn Asuka was equipped with the heavy M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Both the Thompson and the BAR were excellent suppressors while the M1 Garand was used to pick off the enemy targets at a quicker rate than the ordinary bolt action rifles that the enemy had commonly used.

The troopers had five grenades each and everyone had the colt 45 pistols as a backup weapon. The paratroopers had used up most of their ammunition when they were assaulting the V2 rocket bases.

Minutes had passed, suddenly: "Kraut patrol! Take cover." Sergeant Asuka whispered. The squad spread out to cover their flanks, avoiding detection. In total, six ZAFT troops had been seen. They had a Russian P.O.W with them. The German officer had reached for his Luger and slowly started to load his Luger with 9mm bullets. The Major planned to save the Russian solider. "Alright men, lets save our ally. Stellar take aim at the first Kraut on the right. Christian, second on the right. Shinn, first on the left. I'll take the officer. Start shooting after me." Major Park whispered. As everyone aimed their weapon at their targets, the ZAFT officer cocked back his pistol and took aim at the Russian soldier, but before the officer could shoot, The Major opened fire, the officer dropped, immediately after, the men all opened fire on the remaining enemy soldiers eliminating all of them instantly.

The Major had saluted the Russian soldier who saluted back. "Jensen, do you speak Russian?" The Major asked. "No need to get him, I speak fluent English." The Russian soldier explained. "Thank you for your help, I am Captain Vladimir Bratkov."

The Major replied: "Major... from the 101st airborne paratroopers of Easy Company. This is my squad. If I may ask you Captain Bratkov, but how did you get over here from the Eastern front? Isn't the front thousands of miles away from here?"

"Well you see, I was a P.O.W for two years. I attempted to escape last night, but the ZAFT found me and planned to execute me until you and your men saved me Major."

"Where are you going now Captain Bratkov?" The Major asked curiously.

"Anywhere but here. What about you Major?"  
"We're going back to the allied front lines, you might as well join us Captain Bratkov, our front lines are only about sixty miles away. We're moving out in ten minutes."

"Very well Major." Captain Bratkov replied as he took the German MP40 sub-machinegun and a Mauser K-98 rifle, he stripped the enemy bodies of any ammunition and other supplies. The men seemed interested to know about the Russians, so everyone crowded around him, bombarding him with questions, such as: "What do they give you guys to eat?" "What kind of cigs do you get in the Russian army?" "Are the weapons you guys use any good?" Captain Bratkov had to talk quickly in order to answer all the questions thrown at him.

After ten minutes, The Major addressed the men and woman (Stellar is the only girl soldier among the paratroopers). "Alright, before we move out, distribute the ammo equally and lock and load. You know the drill, move from cover to cover, reload before battle and suppress, advance and flank. Any questions?"

Sergeant Shinn Asuka asked: "What do we do in daylight?"

"We do nothing. We just find a safe and secure place to hide until it becomes dark again, unless you want to be fully exposed in German territory, you might as well paint a bullseye on yourself Sergeant." Everyone began sniggering.

"No one breaks silence from now on. Alright squad lets move out."

Meanwhile, Kira had continued to advance, he kept all the shrubs and trees on his tank, to cover his advance. On his way to Colditz, Kira had met little resistance once again. The only resistance he faced was two outdated Panzer II tanks. They were both destroyed with little difficulty. The 90mm gun on Kira's tank had disintegrated the lumbering Panzer II tanks. Not a shot was fired from the Panzers during the short lasting battle.

In a matter of three hours, the airborne squad had covered only two miles, because the roads leading to Dortmund were crawling with German patrols and bunkers, therefore an alternative route was taken, which slowed down their advance to a crawl. The squad had found cover in an abandoned barn. They had all day to plan their escape.


	6. Chapter 6

Athrun had decided to take a walk around the city of Dortmund that morning. He was craving a hot cup of white coffee with extra sugar and a thick chocolate cake. He did not see a single spot of clouds overhead, nothing but blue skies. "Nice weather for a good cup of coffee." As soon as he got to the café, he was noticed by the girls. He was always famous amongst the girls. They liked his hansom looks and whenever they got the chance, they always crowded around him. He was always crowded by the girls ever since high school. He had really hated them, sometimes he wished he was born ugly.

"_Sigh. All I wanted was a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, is that too much to ask?"_ Athrun thought. The crowd of girls crowded to meet Athrun. "Hey there soldier, want to get some coffee with me?" "No he's mine!" "No he's mine!" Every girl argued amongst each other. While they had been too busy fighting each other, Athrun made his escape.

"_Can't they just leave me alone? I have enough problems as it is…Sigh, I thought it was gonna be a nice day for coffee and cake, but now I don't think I feel like it. I think I'll go to a diner instead. Man I can't stand girls like them."_

Athrun put on an army cap to disguise himself as he entered the diner. He sat at an empty table at the far corner of the diner. The diner was half full; most of them were girls. Athrun had looked at the menu. He immediately felt tempted by the cheese burger with fries. As the waitress came by and asked: "May I take your order sir?" Athrun immediately replied: "I would like to have the cheese burger with fries and also white coffee please." "Yes sir your order is coming up."

"_Sigh, if only Cagalli were here, then at least I could have someone to talk to."_

Athrun suddenly remembered about Cagalli.

"_Maybe I should get her something. She must still be upset about the night before."_

"Excuse me ma'am." Athrun called. "Yes sir?" "Is it possible to get a takeaway?" Athrun asked. "Why of course. Would you like to order?" asked the waitress. "Yes ma'am. I would like to get a cheese burger with fries and a slice of apple strudel takeaway." Athrun was glad that the waitress did not recognize him.

Athrun had waited for five minutes before getting his meal. "Here you are sir, your cheeseburger and white coffee and here's your takeaway, enjoy." The waitress said cheerfully. Athrun's mouth had watered with the aroma if freshly made cheeseburger. After taking big bites of the cheeseburger, he felt as if all his problems were gone. The white coffee he sipped time after time cleared his head of any stress. The only problem that he had was the fries, which were far too salty. After the divine meal, Athrun thought that dessert would top his perfect breakfast. "Excuse me ma'am, sorry to bother you again, but could I have a slice of chocolate gateau cake?" Athrun asked. "Why sure thing, I'll be right back." The waitress said cheerfully. Athrun knew that the waitress was a bit annoyed with his constant ordering.

As Athrun finished his big breakfast, he searched his pockets to find his money. Suddenly the owner interrupted: "It's free for soldiers like you." The owner complemented. "I'm sorry sir, but I can't accept. How much sir?" Athrun asked. "Oh don't be silly, the meal's on me. I know who you are… Athrun Zala." Athrun sensed many eyes around him staring at him. He knew that he was the best known tank ace in the Axis military and also best known to his crazy fan girls. Everyone around him started murmuring amongst themselves. "Don't worry about it. The meal's for free, but next time 'round you're gonna have to pay soldier." the owner explained giving him a wink. "Thanks for the meal. I hadn't had anything that good like that in a long time. Good day sir." Athrun smiled back. Athrun had to run out of the diner as fast as he could as he could hear the crazed girls chasing after him again. "Athrun! Athrun! Ohhhh Athrun!" one of the crazed fan girls shouted. He did not care, he just wanted to get away from any fan girl as quickly as possible.

Athrun decided to take the information he extracted from Cagalli to Colonel Steiger, the interrogation officer of Colditz. He also wanted to give Cagalli the cheeseburger and the apple strudel he ordered from the diner with the hopes that she would forgive him. Athrun decided to bike to Colditz instead of taking his tank. If he took his tank, Athrun's obsessed fan girls would chase after him. Everywhere Athrun went, the girls always chased him around. Even back at Tokyo, the girls would never cease to try and seduce him to take them out on dates. Athrun absolutely demised them for this. He borrowed the inn keepers bicycle and biked to Colditz. The Colditz castle was positioned on the east end of Dortmund on high ground. Athrun loved the view of the German countryside.

It was peaceful, even in the worst weather. But the only bad view about the countryside was the view of that dreaded castle, Colditz; a place of darkness, death and suffering. Athrun pitied Cagalli since she did not deserve such treatment.

"Colonel, here is my report on the results of the interrogation." Athrun said as Colonel Steiger read the report. The Colonel simply did not think that the information was adequate. "Sorry Captain Zala, but this is not enough, nowhere near enough. All we know now is who this great Allied tank ace is. We don't care about one man. We want to know where and when a major Allied offensive will take place." Colonel Steiger explained.

"But sir, we know that this man is the key to Allied success."  
"Oh really? I can hardly believe it. Do you think that one man can destroy thousands of our mighty tanks Captain? Colonel Steiger asked.

"Yes sir, I do. He will destroy many more over time."  
"Don't be so ridiculous Captain Zala. What is it that you really want?"  
"Sir, stop the torture and interrogation of Caga- I mean Representative Athha."  
"I see that you two are getting close, I say that you're going over the top Zala, you're getting stupid!"

"Sir she knows nothing more. I can guarantee you that."  
"Save it Captain Zala. If I wanted to, I could have you out of here, but we did have an agreement that you could extract information from the prisoner using any method you wished, so you have two days left Captain. If you manage to give me more information of a significant military importance, I'll consider sending the prisoner to a proper P.O.W camp; it's called 'Stalag III' more to the east. She'll be treated well by the men there."  
"What happens if no more information can be extracted?" Athrun asked curiously.  
"Then I will be forced to take her to the torture rooms and interrogate the prisoner there and if she does not tell us, we'll have to continue torturing her until death." Colonel Steiger explained as he grinned. "You may go now Captain."

Athrun left Colonel Steiger's office feeling furious. _"This is madness; he breaks the rules of the Geneva Convention…Wait. Since when did I care about the Geneva Convention? At first I pitied no Allied prisoner, but now I do, especially Cagalli. Sigh, that's because Cagalli is the only Allied prisoner I know." _

As Athrun visited Cagalli in her cell, Cagalli was found to be sleeping. She looked peaceful and for some strange reason, she was smiling. _"How could someone even smile under such circumstances?"_ Cagalli's smile seemed to captivate Athrun. He tried waking her up. "Cagalli, Cagalli wake up… wake up… wake up." Cagalli kept snoring lightly. "Man, she's a heavy sleeper." Athrun got out his canteen and poured water over Cagalli's face. Once again, Athrun was unsuccessful in waking Cagalli up. "Even water doesn't work. How do you get her up?" Athrun complained. Athrun thought of an idea. He got out the cheeseburger and put it next to Cagalli's nose. Cagalli started to open her eyes. "It's about time sleeping beauty!" Athrun teased. "Ohhhh, why did you wake me up? I was having such a good dream." Cagalli moaned. "I think you should get up, Cagalli."  
"Why? So you can get more information from me? I'll never get up." Cagalli moaned.  
"I guess it can't be helped then." Athrun smiled. Athrun got closer and closer to Cagalli.

Turning her head, Athrun's eyes got caught in a pool of amber. He drew closer and closer. Cagalli's eyes widened, she let him get closer to her face. Thinking quickly, Cagalli used her self defense training to push Athrun off. "HOEEEE!!" Moving away, she glared at him. "What the hell are you doing Zala?" she screamed. Athrun laughed at her reactions.

"I had to wake you up somehow." He stated as Athrun blushed. _"Why the hell am I blushing? It's not like I wanted to kiss her, or did I?"_

"I wanted to give you these." Athrun said as he handed her a cheeseburger, fries and an apple strudel. "HOEEEE!! That looks so good." Cagalli's mouth watered. Cagalli slowly took a bite of the lukewarm cheeseburger. She chewed, savouring the taste. "Wow. It's unbelievable." She cried. She took a handful of fries and placed them in her mouth. "_Something's wrong about these fries"_ Cagalli thought. And then it occurred to her. "Why the hell are these fries so salty?" She hollered.  
"Oh sorry, it must have slipped my mind." Athrun shrugged.  
"Slipped your mind? How can something as salty as this slip your mind?" Cagalli said as she took a massive bite of the apple strudel, swallowing half of it in one bite. Athrun watched in disbelief. "And I thought you were meant to be a princess." Athrun stated.

"Sorry then prince charming." Cagalli shouted back sarcastically.

Athrun dismissed all thoughts of getting information from Cagalli. Instead, Athrun was more occupied with arguing with her and talking about the most random things.

But what Athrun was not aware of was Colonel Steiger drawn in very closely into their conversation. He whispered to himself. "You're either a very good manipulator Mr. Zala, or you're a traitor to our own cause." Colonel Steiger said as he gave an evil grin. "I better report this to your father, General Patrick Zala."


	7. Chapter 7

Darkness surrounded the great German countryside. The full moon was a bad sign to the squad of airborne troopers and their Russian comrade. The Major was worried about the full moon that shone to expose the open countryside making almost every object clear. The Major cursed the full moon. "Damn the moon to hell! Alright squad, we have to be moving. This bloody moon might actually expose our position. We need to stay as close to the hedgerows as possible, are you listening Sergeant Asuka?" The Major asked in a serious tone. Shinn was flirting with Stellar and playing with her short but soft, silky blond hair while Stellar who could not help but smile while she tried hiding her blush. "Sorry sir." Shinn stiffened to attention. "Alright Asuka, if you really like flirting that much, how about I show you what flirting really means. You my friend, are gonna be flirting with a whole load of Krauts on scouting duty!" The Major shouted aggressively.

"Alright troopers, since this moon is already giving us hell. We can't just go silently around the German countryside. We have two options. We take the southern route to avoid being seen by the Kraut patrols, or we could continue down this path, going though this route will take a shorter amount of time, but the Krauts have more patrols roaming around here. Not to mention they have motorized infantry support. Since we cannot afford to waste any more time, I suggest we continue on our normal path. Anyone disagree?" The Major asked. Corporal Loussier interrupted. "Why can't we just take the safer route Major?" everyone nodded, only the Russian Captain agreed with The Major's decision. Captain Bratkov replied saying: "The Major is right. We are running out of time. If we go the longer way, we waste food, water and most importantly: time. We cannot let the Germans in the area be informed that we are heading their way. This gives them time to set up traps and roadblocks." The Russian captain said boldly. The Major nodded, agreeing with Captain Bratkov. "We'll just have to blast our way through enemy resistance when they spot us. Come on troopers, we're airborne, we're trained to be surrounded and meant to be in impossible situations." The Major encouraged the men.

"What do we do when we come across an enemy tank? We don't have anti-tank weapons." Lieutenant Jensen complained. "All the tanks are out at the front, or they're being fixed or being produced in a factory." The Major explained. "Lieutenant Asuka! Go and scout the area and report any MG (machinegun) nests, bunkers and patrols. We'll be waiting for you here. And for gosh sakes, try not to get killed." The Major ordered.

Before Shinn left to scout the area, Stella whispered: "Good luck." into Shinn's ears. Shinn's ruby red eyes had met Stellar's light pink eyes. Stellar then kissed Shinn lightly on his cheek; Shinn blushed like a ripe tomato with a smile on his face as he left.

Miles away, Kira Yamato had continued to advance towards his main objective; Colditz. Kira's tank 'Freedom' was a rugged and powerful tank. Capable of being able to withstand an 88mm projectile and would still continue to fight on. Its 90mm gun could pack a huge punch. It would even destroy a Tiger tank with one shot with a good placed shot. Kira's tank was fitted with: two Ford GAF 8-cylinder gasoline engines generating 1400hp. Its average speed is 42km/h on open terrain. The Pershing tanks were a solution to the all powerful Tiger and Panther tanks and to Kira's eyes, it was a wonder weapon.

Kira's advance was stopped when he realized that more than half the gas was used. To his shock, the Freedom had guzzled up more fuel than he had anticipated. "How could this tank guzzle up so much gas? I'm just half way there." Kira complained. He thought that all the extra weight of the tank had caused the fuel to be rapidly used up in a short amount of time. Then he saw that the fuel his tank was using was: heptane (C7H16). Usually, Kira's tank would use octane (C8H18), or decane (C10H22); Kira was using a weaker concentrated gas. Kira knew that he would only have enough to get to Colditz and would have to find another source of fuel on his way back. Kira seemed frustrated with the new problem of his. "Driving behind enemy lines in complete silence is hard enough, but finding gasoline in enemy territory is completely insane!" Kira hissed to himself, slapping his head in frustration. Kira knew the easiest way to get fuel from enemy territory was to either: steal it from an unsuspecting tank, or steal some from Axis supply stations and convoys. Kira planned to use the Nazi uniforms and weapons that he obtained, but since he didn't know how to speak German, he would have to avoid all contact with the enemy soldiers.

After an hour, Sergeant Shinn Asuka returned. He was panting and sweating. He took his M1 helmet off and wipe of his sweat. His messy black hair had had been drenched with sweat. "What took you so long Sergeant?" The Major asked looking at his watch.  
"Sir, the place is crawling with Krauts. There are motorized patrols, supply convoys coming in and outside the city are MG nests blockading our route exiting Dortmund. The worst thing is the whole area is open field. I say we turn back and find another route outta here sir." Shinn advised to The Major who seemed to be in silence.  
"If we say here or turn back the Krauts will spot our position and try to flank us as soon as they gather their patrol squads." The Major explained.  
"What are you suggesting sir?" Sergeant Jensen asked curiously. There was an awkward silence before The Major answered: "We have no choice… fix bayonets." The whole squad was stunned with the decision The Major made. The troopers immediately fixed their bayonets on their rifles rather slowly. Captain Bratkov interrupted: "Major, can I make a suggestion?" The Major raised his brow. "Very well Captain, proceed."  
"We could use smoke grenades to cover our escape. As you can see, it is dark, so if we use smoke grenades now, the Germans will think that the smoke is thick fog." The rest of the squad agreed. "Excellent plan Captain Bratkov, good thinking." The Major praised.

"Alright squad listen up, here's the plan. We're gonna wait for that cloud up there to cover the moon." The Major pointed to the dark cloud patch in the sky gradually getting to the moon. "After that, I'm gonna throw my first smoke grenade. We all dash as quickly as possible towards that rock over there about a hundred metres away. When we reach that, I'm gonna throw my second smoke grenade, as soon as that flares up, we all dash towards that forest." Everyone nodded showing The Major that everyone understood.

The troopers got into position just out of range of the MG nests and German patrols. Major Park was waiting for the cloud to cover the moon. The air was filled with tension as zero hour was drawing closer and closer. The troopers all looked scared. Especially Stellar Loussier who was breathing quite heavily, Shinn had to help calm her down.

Minutes passed. "What the hell is taking this cloud so damn long?" Major Park hissed.

Another minute passed when the cloud had completely covered the moon. "Let's go!" The Major shouted as he hurled the first smoke grenade as far as he could. As the troopers all sprinted toward their first point, the smoke grenade started to fume up the entire area, the German machine gunners did not seem to notice the smoke or the troopers. As The Major reached the first point, he hurled the second smoke grenade into the air, when the German gunners saw this, they started shouting and after a few moments they opened fire around the entire area of smoke with no clue of where the troopers were, the gunners were just hoping to hit something. As The Major and his squad reached their second point; their safe point.

The Major noticed that Lieutenant Jensen was lagging behind. "Come on Jensen! My grandmother could run faster than you. Dig it in and get that ass moving!" the Major screamed at the top of his lungs while the machineguns were still rattling off in the background. Lieutenant Jensen had quickened his sprint as the machinegun trails started following him. As Jensen got within a few metres of the safe point, Jensen felt a great stinging sensation on his foot as he hit the ground, he was screaming after being hit on his right foot. The smoke had almost cleared up. The Major dashed towards Jensen, lifting him and paced towards the safe point. The squad had made it across. "Regroup squad!" Major Park shouted as he placed the wounded Lieutenant Jensen on the ground. "Gosh damn it, they got me!" Jensen moaned loudly. "Corporal Loussier. Do what you can to help Lieutenant Jensen." The Major ordered. Stellar Loussier immediately tended to Jensen's wound. Captain Bratkov looked a bit worried about Lieutenant Jensen as did The Major. "Squad lets move into that forest. The enemy would have alerted the other Kraut patrols by now." The Major said. As soon as Stellar removed the bullet and bandaged Jensen's foot, the squad moved slowly into the forest keeping track of their positions to make sure they don't get lost.

"Well done squad, well done!" The Major praised. "Unfortunately, we're gonna be slowed down due to Jensen's bad foot. We're not gonna carry on. The Krauts will be everywhere so staying hidden in this forest is a better option. So everyone get as much rest as you can in here. Here's a plan that I think will save us time and effort. We could ambush an incoming Kraut vehicle and take it, if we're lucky, there'll be food and fuel supplies in there for us. I stole German uniforms and some weapons, we could use them to infiltrate that town over there. Any objections?" there was a long silence before Major Park said: "Good! We'll start tomorrow." The Major was a respected commander. He was a good commander and a solid tactician. The troopers under his command that knew him well would know better than to never go against his decisions. The Major saw that Corporal Loussier and Sergeant Asuka were missing. "Has anyone seen Shinn and Stellar?" The Major asked. Jensen and Bratkov shook their heads. "I have an idea of where they are… and what they're doing." The Major sighed.

In the distance, Shinn and Stellar had been kissing each other passionately. The Major popped out of a clearing. "Save that for later. You young troopers are only eighteen; early pregnancy is a fatal mistake. Get back with the rest of the squad now!  
Stellar turned to face Shinn. "Do you think he'll ever get a girlfriend?" She asked sweetly. "With the attitude that he's got, no… but I was told his wife died years ago." Shinn answered. The couple both returned to the squad. The squad had plenty of time to rest up for what lay ahead of them.


	8. Chapter 8

Dark clouds covered the skies warning the inhabitants below of rain as the wind blew violently about whistling unhappy tunes. In Colditz, Athrun and Cagalli were still sleeping peacefully in each others arms. Athrun woke up feeling Cagalli's warmth. Athrun smiled and kissed her lightly on her forehead. Cagalli slowly opened her eyes. Her amber eyes were caught in Athrun's pools of emerald. Their moment was interrupted when the prison cell door had opened. "Athrun you traitor!" General Patrick Zala said furiously. Athrun feared his father, but he stayed with Cagalli, holding her more tightly than ever. "Get up now both of you!" General Zala screamed at the top of his lungs. General Zala pulled out a P-38 pistol and cocked it back. "Get up now, or she dies Athrun!" he continued to threaten Athrun. Both Cagalli and Athrun slowly got up. General Zala glared at Athrun. Guards with MP40's came in. General Zala started taking all the bullets from his pistol, but one remained. "Here." General Zala handed Athrun the pistol. "What is this father?" Athrun asked with shock. "You will put this natural trash out of her misery. Now shoot her!" Athrun shouted back. "No! I will not father."

"Kill her, or I will kill her for you." General Zala boomed. "And mark my words boy mark them well, I will make her suffer a very slow and a very painful death. You'll even have to watch it and hear her scream!" General Zala became impatient.

Athrun's eyes widened more at his father last statement. He remembered back when he was a child, his father would torture men to get military information from them. He remembered the screams of anguish as his father tortured them to a slow and painful death. "If you pull the trigger, you will be able to be a soldier of this glorious army once again. Now hurry up!" General Zala commanded, growing more impatient. Athrun took the gun, he knew that he was in a losing position. Cagalli sank to her knees, devastated. "First thing's first father; what is the whole purpose of the Nazi regime?" Athrun asked sternly. "To create a perfect race, a coordinator race, but to do that, we have to wipe out the naturals. Wipe them off the face of this earth." General Zala grinned evilly. Athrun looked past his father and noticed tears welling up in Cagalli's eyes. Athrun slowly pointed the gun at Cagalli, aiming for her head. His hands were shaking, tears were forming in his eyes and later, a few drops slid down his cheeks. General Zala saw these tears. "You're weak Athrun, just pull that damn trigger!" General Zala screamed. Athrun changed the direction of the gun and aimed at his fathers' chest hastily and shot him. The guards immediately knocked Athrun and Cagalli out and quickly tended to General Zala's wounds, but General Patrick Zala was in a critical condition, most likely to die. Thunder roared in the background.

The Major was exhausted from driving the Kubelwagen by himself for hours, he was grateful that Captain Bratkov had been his navigator. Meanwhile driving around the countryside, Lieutenant Jensen fell asleep, while Jensen was sleeping, Shinn and Stellar took advantage of the situation. But The Major quickly caught them secretly kissing again. The Major felt extremely annoyed this time. But an evil smirk was seen by Captain Bratkov, he knew exactly what the back passengers were doing and he also knew what to do, The Major gave a nod to Captain Bratkov, which was enough for Captain Bratkov to understand. Captain Bratkov held on tight. The Major suddenly whammed down the brakes, causing Shinn and Stellar to hit each other in the head, while Jensen almost flew out of the jeep. "I warned you two from the start! No 'stuff' out of the ordinary, especially when we are in the danger zone. Lieutenant Jensen, please smack those two for me every time they try to do 'that'. Next time, Captain Bratkov, Jensen and I will drive this jeep while I force you two to walk. IS THAT CLEAR?" The Major thundered. "Yes sir." the two troopers all looked nervously at The Major. This time, Shinn and Stellar got the message loud clear to them. "Good, we'll move in then." The Major casually said as he accelerated the jeep and continued his course. "Listen up both of you. When we get back to the lines, the General will be absolutely pleased, so if we apply for RnR, the General can't reject us. So you two, Shinn and Stellar, you can do whatever you want and I won't be able to say a thing." Shinn and Stellar both had excited looks on their faces, Jensen also looked happy. "What will happen to me when I get there?" Captain Bratkov asked. "For you Captain, the war will be over, unless of course you volunteer to keep fighting on the western front." The Major smiled.

The Major stopped at a barn house, they did not know if it was abandoned or not. The Major was the first to check, he slowly opened the barn door and entered quietly just incase he might startle a local, he signaled for the troopers to lock and load. He quietly came back to regroup with the squad. "Alright squad, I saw a couple of Krauts in there, we better be on guard. I'm thinking that we should capture them and get any information from them about the positions of bunkers and roadblocks." The Major whispered. As soon as they locked and loaded, the squad stormed the barn shouting for them to surrender, two of the enemy soldiers tried to pick up their rifles to fight back, they were both mowed down by a long burst of The Major's Thompson sub-machinegun. All the other soldiers surrendered. Two ZAFT soldiers were killed while three surrendered.

"What should we do with them sir?" Sergeant Asuka asked guarding the three who were all on their knees and had their hands on their heads. "We'll interrogate them, use any means necessary to get the information we want." The Major replied. Captain Bratkov interrupted: "I can interrogate them. I'm quite good at it without breaching the Geneva Convention." Captain Bratkov smirked. "Very well, Captain. You may proceed with the interrogations." The Major confidently said, showing his complete trust to Captain Bratkov. Even though Captain Bratkov was new to the squad, he had already respected The Major as a commander and as a man. "I want you to get information on all or any roadblocks, patrols and bunkers." The Major said specifically. Captain Bratkov took the soldiers to another room, with a map and a gun. "Why doesn't he take any other tools with him?" Shinn asked staring at The Major for answers. "I only know Captain Bratkov for a couple of days and yet, I trust him more than anyone, even you." The Major stared back at Shinn with a smirk on his face. "But I've known you since boot camp sir." Shinn looked puzzled. "Well I keep telling you and Loussier to stop doing 'stuff', but you don't listen to me anyway." The Major continued to smirk. Shinn remained silent. "Alright both of you, Loussier and Asuka, get up on the second floor and keep on the lookout for anyone else on approach." The Major ordered. "Yes sir!" both Shinn and Stellar climbed a ladder to the second floor. "Don't even think about doing 'that', I'm gonna be watching you two." The Major warned.

Captain Bratkov came out in ten minutes with all three prisoners unharmed, but they were all frightened. One ZAFT soldier had wet his pants. The Major looked pleased. "Captain Bratkov, I assume that you got the information we needed?" Captain Bratkov smirked. His smirk made The Major think that what he had stated before had sounded like an understatement. "I got a lot more than that Major Park. We have all the roadblocks from Dortmund to Bonn. I also managed to get all the MG emplacements ranging from here to the front lines and sniper positions and almost all the bunkers and observation posts." "My gosh! What the hell did you do to get them to talk?" The Major widened his eyes.  
"I threatened to crush their balls on a vice." Captain Bratkov smirked even harder. Lieutenant Jensen couldn't help but snigger. "All the information is on this map Major." Captain Bratkov raised the map triumphantly. "Well done Captain Bratkov, well done." The Major praised. "So what do we do about them?" Jensen pointed to the prisoners.  
"We have no choice but to put liquid cyanide in their food. We can't take them with us." Major Park explained. "We have all day, to make them eat up. Any objections?" The Major said quietly making sure the ZAFT soldiers did not hear them. "Just don't tell Sergeant Asuka and Corporal Loussier." The Major added.

On the second floor of the barn, Shinn and Stellar took turns on watch while talking to each other. "What should we do when we get our RnR?" Stellar asked Shinn looking curious. "I say we get a room at an inn and just do whatever we want after that." Shinn looked at Stellar. "Remember what the Major said, we can do whatever we want whenever we want and he won't be able to say a thing." Shinn smiled.

"You know Stellar, I'm glad that I lied about my age to join the paratroopers, if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have met you." Shinn said while blushing. He also noticed that Stellar was blushing a light red. "Me too Shinn." Stellar replied nervously. Stellar got closer to Shinn ignoring The Major's warning, Shinn also reached for Stellar… "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU COORDINATORS?" The Major screamed at Shinn and Stellar, catching them red handedly. "Ok then you two, do whatever you want and get us all killed. I guess you coordinators won't be listening to a natural like me then." Shinn and Stellar both looked in confusion. "You're a natural sir?" Shinn said dumbfounded. "But sir, you're a tactical genius with an IQ of 194 and your strength and stamina set military records." Stellar pointed out. "I thought coordinators were meant to be stronger and smarter than the average natural." Shinn stated. The Major's face was as red as a ripe tomato tinting a little purple, he looked like he had a Hawkins mine ready to blow. "YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE I'M A NATURAL, YOU THINK THAT I'M A STUPID, WEAK, LAZY MONGROL?" The Major exploded making an 88mm shell look like nothing. "N-no s-s-sir, I meant Major. W-w-well we actually thought that you were a coordinator like us because you were so strong and intelligent." Shinn started to shake at The Major's sudden outburst. The ZAFT prisoners were more shaken up. "I'm a hundred percent natural, one hundred percent damn it! That's right one hundred percent!" The Major continued. "Captain Bratkov, tell us that an intelligent man like you are a natural like myself." The Major politely said eying Captain Bratkov. Captain Bratkov looked confused and stated: "Actually Major, I'm a Russian." The Major looked like he was stabbed with more annoyance and slapped himself in the head. Shinn, Stellar and Christian couldn't help but laugh to themselves quietly. "Never mind Captain Bratkov." The Major sighed. "Sergeant Asuka and Corporal Loussier, if I hear another word from you two about putting down a natural, I will personally make you charge at the enemy MG nests. UNDERSTOOD?" Major Park screamed. "Y-y-y-y-y-yes sir." Shinn and Stellar said while taking in The Major's death glares.

In Colditz, Athrun awoke, his head was aching with pain and he found Cagalli next to him still unconscious. "Cagalli wake up, wake up." Athrun whispered whilst shaking her gently. Cagalli regained consciousness and opened her amber eyes slowly. "Athrun, you shot him, you shot your father." Cagalli muttered while slowly forcing herself up. Athrun felt the burden and guilt again. He looked down shamefully as he bitterly tasted the experiences of shooting his own father and hoping with all of his heart that his father was dead. Suddenly the cell door swung wide open. Colonel Steiger was with armed guards, the Colonel himself was armed with his P-38 pistol. "So traitor, you decide to go against your own fathers wishes. You are no son of that great man." Colonel Steiger boomed. Athrun could only look shamefaced at the Colonel. "Luckily, your father's okay. You shot just above the heart Zala, he's making a fine recovery now, he can almost walk properly." Colonel Steiger continued to give Athrun glares of hate.

Athrun widened his eyes with fear at the news of his father's fast recovery. "For now, you and that natural trash can rot in here while we wait for General Zala to decide what to do with both of you." Colonel Steiger slammed the cell door shut leaving Athrun and Cagalli terrified.  
"No!" Athrun cried. "My father will torture both of us to death for sure." Athrun slammed his fists on the floor. "Nothing will happen to you Athrun." Cagalli said as she got out a red stone pendant. "This is the Haumea pendant, Haumea is the goddess of fertility and childbirth, it will protect you Athrun." Cagalli said putting the pendant around Athrun's neck. "No Cagalli, I can't." Athrun looked up at Cagalli.

"You're too unstable Athrun. Besides, it's a gift." Cagalli smiled. Athrun looked at the shiny red pendant for a moment before saying anything. "Thank you Cagalli." Athrun said whilst smiling. "Well since you'll be cold again tonight, how about I warm you up again?" Athrun smirked. Cagalli smacked Athrun across his shoulder. "Hmph! don't even think about it Zala." Cagalli raised her voice.

The Major had cooked a can of beans and spam for the prisoners, he then put them in three empty cans, secretly putting in drops of colourless liquid which was cyanide. "Jensen. Give these to the prisoners." The Major ordered grimly. Lieutenant Jensen gave the three ZAFT soldiers their meals. The ZAFT soldiers seemed surprised and thankful for receiving such kindness from their enemy. The ZAFT soldiers were easy to fool as they all ate their given food. After a couple of minutes, all the ZAFT soldiers died a painless and an immediate death. The Major was glad that there was no pain involved. The others were also glad. When Shinn and Stellar asked: "What's wrong with the prisoners?" The Major simply answered: "We put sleeping drugs in their food so we can make our escape." Of course, no one in the squad had sleeping drugs. If anyone had them, they would have been used instead of cyanide. "Let's go squad, it's getting dark." Major Park bitterly said as he watched saw the lifeless bodies of the ZAFT soldiers. "Who'll be my navigator in front?" The Major asked. Captain Bratkov stepped forward. "I will be the navigator Major." The Major smiled. "Thank you Captain Bratkov."

As the squad from Easy Company got in the car, Shinn noticed the boot of the car was hanging open. He curiously opened the boot of the car. "Check it out Major, we got extra gas." Shinn cried out in excitement. An entire barrel of gasoline was found.

"Shoot Major! What a find. Don't you agree sir?" Shinn asked. The Major nodded vaguely with an emotionless face. "Sergeant Asuka and Corporal Loussier go inside and look for more food and ammo. Don't touch the ZAFT soldiers or make too much noise, they might wake up." The Major said with hesitation. When Shinn and Stellar was out of sight, Captain Bratkov turned to face The Major who was staring at the ground.  
"You did the right thing The Major. You gave them a painless death." Captain Bratkov said. "I don't mind killing men on the battlefield, but killing them in cold blood is another story completely." The Major reasoned. "The Major, never in my years of taking orders from any commander have I seen someone who treats both sides with respect. And I have never come across the most skilled and intelligent person in my entire life." Captain Bratkov explained. "What you did was the best option that you could take. You have to think about the lives of your squad now. You have their respect and you also have mine Major." Captain Bratkov continued to praise Major Park. "Thank you Captain, you're right, I can't carry this guilt around for the rest of my life." The Major suddenly brightened up to his boot camp Sergeant mode.

"Shinn, Stellar, let's get the hell outta here!" The Major shouted.

The Major and his squad had met no resistance, twenty minutes later, Captain Bratkov halted The Major upon a cross road. The darkness around prevented The Major to see the current problem. "What is it Captain Bratkov?" The Major asked.  
"There are two trenches on the other side of that cross road about fifteen metres apart. Fortunately, they're facing the opposite direction, so surprising them should be easy, but I'm just worried about the second trench." Captain Bratkov observed his map.

"Let me take care of the second trench." The Major said raising the confidence of the squad. "Alright squad, beyond that crossroad is a trench defense line facing the other way. All we have to do is quietly sneak up and take out the Krauts in there, then we all stay low and we'll plan our next step from there. So everyone lock and load and fix bayonets." The Major planned. Everyone quietly reloaded and fixed their bayonets. "We'll leave the Kubelwagen here, after we take them out we'll come back and get our ride and then continue our advance, Jensen, you're staying here with that bad foot of yours." The Major explained pointing at Jensen's foot. "Sir, I'm fine, I can run fine." Jensen complained. "Fine Jensen, don't let us down." The Majorgave Jensen a short stare. "Is everyone ready? Let's go."


	9. Chapter 9

Athrun had gotten changed into his uniform. Athrun had no time to waste, he quickly entered his tank and he loaded his assault rifle, the MP44. He had only ninety rounds of ammunition. He also had his secondary weapon, the Luger P-38 and three stick grenades. If he wanted to rescue Cagalli, he would have to be swift and cunning. Athrun rolled his tank towards Colditz with extreme caution. As he approached Colditz, he saw that the main castle door was closed. Athrun hid his tank behind a hedgerow and aimed his tank's 75mm high velocity gun at the main gate. Athrun opened his hatch, ready to storm the castle. Athrun fired at the main gate, the gate had been completely destroyed, a wide opening inside the castle was seen, Athrun dashed out of his tank and stormed the castle, only a few moments later, the alarm in the castle was sounded.

As Athrun stormed the castle, he was met with two guards with K-98 bolt-action rifles, Athrun had given two short bursts of his assault rifle at the guards; both the guards had dropped, one guard was screaming in pain the other lay motionless. On his way to Cagalli's prison cell, two guards with MP40 sub-machineguns had appeared out of the corner, they started spraying the area around Athrun with 9mm projectiles. Athrun dived for cover behind a crate. When the firing had stopped, Athrun took a little look from behind the crate, but as he lifted his head to see where the guards were, the MP40's lit up another hail of bullets and Athrun had no choice but to stay down. Athrun pulled out his grenade, he pulled the pin out and threw it over the crate, when he heard the guards shouting, he popped out and squeezed a short burst of his rifle at one of the guards before ducking again. The grenade exploded just as Athrun ducked. Both guards were instantly killed.

In the distance, The Major and his squad heard the rattle of machineguns and the sound of the alarm. "What the hell was that?" Major Park shouted. Lieutenant Jensen suggested that: "It must be a bunch of drunken Germans sir." Captain Bratkov looked bewildered. "Germans do not get drunk Lieutenant." Captain Bratkov said in a harsh tone.

"Maybe it's one of our allies. Should we go and see what's going on?" The Major suggested. Sergeant Asuka and Lieutenant Jensen disagreed strongly with this idea.

"We have to get moving man, our lines are so far away, it can't be anyone except a bunch of drunken Germans." Lieutenant Jensen said sternly. The Major reluctantly took Lieutenant Jensen's suggestion. "Let's hope you're right Jensen." The Major gave Lieutenant Jensen a cold look raising his brow. "We should go Major, while the Krauts are diverted." Shinn said. "Alright squad, get in the jeep. We're moving out. Keep you're eyes open. If you see anything, tap me on the shoulder." The Major said as the squad squeezed themselves into the camouflaged 'Kubelwagen'. "God help them if they are our allies." The Major prayed.

As Athrun continued his assault on the castle, resistance had weakened. "I must have taken them completely by surprise." Athrun muttered to himself. All he could now think about was getting to Cagalli, hoping that nothing had happened to her. As Athrun got closer and closer to Cagalli's prison cell, Athrun got more and more worried. As Athrun unlocked the cell door, he started opening the door slowly. As Athrun swung the door wide open, Cagalli was not seen, Athrun was shocked, he saw a blanket and a chocolate box in the middle, as Athrun reached down to grab the blanket and chocolate box, a figure had come up from behind Athrun and put their arms around Athrun holding him by his neck. Athrun used training that the Elite Forces had taught him, he twisted the figures arm and flipped the figure over to hit the ground hard.

The figure was none other than Cagalli. "Athrun?" Cagalli said, looking surprised. "Cagalli, let's go, I can't let you die in a place like this." Athrun said as he helped Cagalli up. Cagalli's eyes started to water as she hugged Athrun. "I'll protect you now Cagalli." Athrun said as his emerald eyes met Cagalli's amber eyes. Both were gazing at each other for a moment. "Now let's get out of here Cagalli." Athrun said. Cagalli drew Athrun's pistol and followed Athrun. Athrun was surprised to find no more resistance as he got down. He was starting to get suspicious. Usually, more guards would be swarming in, but not one was seen. "Cagalli, we have to get back to my tank. There's something wrong." Athrun said looking worried. Athrun and Cagalli exited the castle in a matter of minutes. "My tank's over there come on."

Athrun dragged Cagalli by the hand. As Athrun approached his tank, his tank suddenly exploded, small bits of metal flew around the disintegrated tank. Athrun and Cagalli dived to safety. Suddenly a horde of soldiers surrounded Athrun and Cagalli, Athrun dropped his weapon, Cagalli dropped hers shortly after. Out of the horde of soldiers, a tall, well built man in very formal military uniform stepped out. "I see now with my own eyes what my son was up to." Athrun looked up at the figure. "Father?" Athrun said in disbelief. "That's right traitor! Colonel Steiger informed me of your traitorous actions." Patrick Zala said in anger. Colonel Steiger came out of the shadows with a grin on his face. "We knew that you'd do something as stupid as this, especially after fraternizing with the enemy." Colonel Steiger grinned.

Patrick Zala had his eyes fixed on Cagalli.

"So this is the little bitch that has caused us a lot of trouble." General Zala insulted. He went up to Cagalli and gripped her chin tightly to have a good look at her. Cagalli gave a silent cry as General Zala gripped her chin. "Don't touch her!" Athrun exploded. "What did you say?" General Zala turned to face Athrun. "Don't touch her." Athrun sternly repeated. "I can't believe this. My own son is on the same side of the Allies. Tell me Athrun. What did this bitch tell you?" General Zala looked furious.

"She told me nothing and don't call her a 'bitch' father." Athrun sternly answered. General Zala approached Athrun, he balled his fists clenching it and punched Athrun as hard as he could on Athrun's chest. Athrun fell in pain, blood came spewing out while Athrun was clutching his chest. Cagalli went down to help Athrun, until General Zala interrupted. "Take these two pieces of trash back up to the castle, if they like each other so much, let them share a cell. I will punish them later." The soldiers saluted General Zala and Colonel Steiger and then grabbed hold of Cagalli and Athrun.

"I'm very disappointed in you Athrun." General Zala spat. Athrun looked back and said:  
"I'm also disappointed in you too father." The soldiers dragged Athrun and Cagalli back to their cell roughly. Athrun was still in pain from the hard punch that his father had given him.

Thirty miles from Colditz, Kira had continued his advance as usual. Kira was desperate to stumble upon a town that had a supply depot or a supply convoy. The Freedom had guzzled up too much of the weaker concentrated gas and fuel supplies were desperately needed. Although Kira had covered more than half the distance to reach Colditz, Kira used up three fifths of his total gas supplies. Had Kira have gotten decane (C10H22); Kira would have had just enough gas for a return journey. Kira was only five miles away from the nearest town, he was sure that fuel supplies would be found there. Kira had calculated that he had enough fuel for only thirty miles; enough to get to Colditz. As Kira rolled forward for an hour and a half, Kira saw a supply convoy heading south. Kira had stopped his tank to scan the battlefield. He saw that the supply convoys were escorted by five Tiger tanks and a platoon of Volksgrenadiers in an SS lorry. There were about ten supply trucks altogether. Kira saw this as an opportunity to get fuel supplies. Kira set his tank's 90mm gun on the Tiger tanks rolling past him. He waited for the slow Tiger tanks to expose their rear armour.

As minutes passed the Tiger tanks had finally exposed their rear. Kira took the first shot on the first Tiger. The Tiger tank had completely been destroyed, but Kira had no time to celebrate yet, the other four Tiger tanks had turned around, spotting Kira's position. Kira thrust forward and to dodge the Tiger tank's 88mm gun. The supply trucks had just kept moving, they could not drive any faster due to the heavy supplies that weighed them down. As Kira moved from hedgerow to hedgerow, the Tiger tanks started firing every hedgerow. They did not know where Kira was hiding; so Kira would take his time carefully aiming at the Tiger tanks weak points. As Kira shot his second Tiger, directly near the turret, the turret had come off completely.

The other three tanks spotted Kira's 90mm gun emitting the sulfur flashes as he fired. Kira had to move again, avoiding a direct hit off an 88mm projectile. Kira headed towards the three Tiger tanks, they all needed to reload, Kira fired his AP (Armour Piercing) shell in the Tiger tank's turret, which was reduced to nothing but a burning tin can. The second Tiger tank had finished reloading its gun, had fired its 88mm shell into the Freedom's front armour, The 88mm shell had exploded on the thick steel plating of the Freedom, to Kira's surprise, only a large dent was made. The Freedom automatically reloaded the shell, whereas with other tanks, the shells had to be manually reloaded. Kira turned his tank around the Tiger tanks rear, he then fired a comfortable round at the fuel tanks. The second Tiger tank had completely disintegrated. The entire tank was nothing but a heap of scrap metal. The last tanks crew members jumped out and fled, as they did so, Kira bet out a burst of his 50cal machinegun on the ground near them to help them run faster.

Kira then directed his focus towards the supply convoy. As Kira turned his tank towards the pack of SS lorries, the men all jumped out of their trucks and sprinted as far as they could away from Kira. The Volksgrenadier platoon had all fled at the sight of Kira's tank coming towards them. As a warning, Kira shot at one of the supply trucks. Kira's 90mm gun cut through the SS lorry like hot knife through butter. The shells impact on the lorry was so big that the lorry landed upside down when blown. Not a single person was in sight. The supply convoys were completely deserted. As Kira went to take supplies from deserted convoy, Kira found two barrels of octane (C8H16).

"Perfect!" Kira cried. He also found some food and water supplies that he would need. As for the rest of the supplies, Kira lit them all ablaze to make sure that the Germans would not be able to reuse the supplies when found.

Only a mile away from Colditz, The Major and his squad were riding comfortably in their newly acquired 'Kubelwagen' jeep… almost everyone, Lieutenant Jensen felt very uncomfortable. "EEEK! Easy on the foot you moron!" Lieutenant Jensen hissed at Shinn. Lieutenant Jensen had been complaining the whole way. The Major stopped the jeep almost immediately pushing everyone forwards. The Major turned to Captain Bratkov. "Do you mind being in between Captain Bratkov?" he asked politely.  
"I'll do anything just so he just shuts up." Captain Bratkov whispered to Major Park.  
"Thank you Captain Bratkov. Alright then, Jensen up here, you're gonna be directing me around the countryside. Captain Bratkov, please hand Jensen the map." The Major requested.  
"Thank bloody gosh." Lieutenant Jensen yelled as he took the map from Captain Bratkov.

As Jensen got out of the jeep, an enemy soldier started yelling out: "Americana! Americana!" Everyone started panicking. "Jensen! Get in the car, quick!" Christian jumped in front seat while Captain Bratkov, Sergeant Asuka and Corporal Loussier locked and loaded their weapons. The squad could hear motorbikes coming from behind them. "Sergeant Asuka. Take my Thompson and pump their guts full of lead!" The Major said as he accelerated away from the motorbikes. "As the three motorized patrols got closer, Captain Bratkov and Sergeant Asuka started to give the enemy short bursts. "Come on guys, keep em off of me!" The Major shouted. "Unleash hell on em." The Major kept shouting. Captain Bratkov sprayed a hail of lead causing one bike to explode and one of the gunners on another bike to be wounded. The gunner on the third bike started to unleash a hail of bullets, the bullets pinged off the metal plate of the car. "Asuka! What the hell are you doing? Stop saving ammo, give them all you got! Let em have it!" The Major screamed. Shinn reloaded the Thompson and fired the entire magazine cartridge. Both the motorized patrols were hit and trailed behind. "WOHOO!" The Major let out a cry of joy. "That's how we do it Sergeant Asuka. Good job."

In Colditz, Cagalli and Athrun were both moved to another cell, much higher up and had double the amount of security. The room was small, dark and exceptionally cold. Cagalli had barely had enough clothes to keep her warm, let alone properly cover her. Cagalli kept shivered uncontrollably. She wrapped her arms around. Athrun was also stripped of his entire military uniform, seen by the others as a traitor to the great army. But they were on the losing side. The V2 bases were destroyed, their major cities: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Leipzig, Nuremburg and Dresden were all reduced to rubble by the ferocity of the Allied bombings. The war productions were crippled as a result of these bombing campaigns day and night with the new incendiary bombs.

When Athrun saw Cagalli shivering, Athrun came closer to Cagalli. "Here Cagalli, lie down over here." Athrun directed her to the floor. The cold concrete hit Cagalli's bare skin. Athrun had gotten down with her and kept her close to his warm body wrapping his arms around her. Cagalli started to blush madly while smiling. Cagalli felt the embracive warmth about Athrun. Her golden amber eyes had met the emerald green eyes of the midnight blue haired coordinator. Cagalli blushed, she broke off her eye contact with Athrun. Athrun could see that Cagalli was blushing to a bright red. "You look cute when you're blushing Cagalli." Athrun said charmingly. Cagalli blushed even more. Cagalli saw Athrun smiling at her. "I'm glad I met you Athrun." Cagalli shyly smiled back.  
"I'm glad I met you too Cagalli."

Athrun gave Cagalli one last kiss that night before both had dazed off in a peaceful sleep. For once, Athrun did not have any nightmares about the Nazi atrocities that he experienced. Instead, he dreamt a peaceful and happy dream; a dream where there was no anguish, anger, sadness or destruction. Everything was bright and clean, for a moment Athrun felt that he was in Heaven.

Meanwhile, Kira had forgotten to read the letter that his girlfriend Lacus Clyne had sent him a week ago. Kira immediately stopped the Freedom next to a hedgerow. He searched for the letter in his pack that he was looking forward to reading all week. He sniffed the scent of the envelope hoping to pick up the smell of Lacus. Kira had been away from her for almost a year and a half. He missed stroking her long, smooth pink hair. He missed hearing her soft voice in his ears when he awoke in the mornings next to her and most of all, Kira wanted to ask Lacus the most important question in the world. He pulled out a small box out of his breast pocket. He opened the box containing a silver ring with an ocean blue sapphire stone. The sapphire had reminded Kira of Lacus's sapphire blue eyes. Kira digested Lacus's letter, he kept it close to him, not wanting to let it go.

_Dear Kira. _

_I hope that tank I sent you is helping you survive. Our factories have received twice the amount of raw materials for our tanks and aircraft. My father uses the remaining manpower and materials to design and engineer new tanks and planes for the war effort. _

_I've also heard that the ZAFT military is on the defensive, you really must be giving them a beating. I really hope that this war will be over soon, I really miss you and I want my Kira to be back safely in one piece. And don't worry, I'm not seeing anyone else unlike the other girls in town. Almost all the girls had actually taken all their boyfriends belongings and left town with another guy. It's such a sad sight. _

_You'll see me soon, I'm going to come over in about two weeks with a little surprise for you. Try to apply for RnR as soon as I come over, I would really like us to spend some time in France. _

_Lacus _

Kira then looked at the date of when the letter was sent. "This was a week ago." Kira stated in surprise. "Lacus is coming here in two weeks." Kira jumped in excitement. Kira then hardened his face. "But first, I have to get Cagalli."


	10. Chapter 10

Dark clouds covered the skies warning the inhabitants below of rain as the wind blew violently about whistling unhappy tunes. In Colditz, Athrun and Cagalli were still sleeping peacefully in each others arms. Athrun woke up feeling Cagalli's warmth. Athrun smiled and kissed her lightly on her forehead. Cagalli slowly opened her eyes. Her amber eyes were caught in Athrun's pools of emerald. Their moment was interrupted when the prison cell door had opened. "Athrun you traitor!" General Patrick Zala said furiously. Athrun feared his father, but he stayed with Cagalli, holding her more tightly than ever. "Get up now both of you!" General Zala screamed at the top of his lungs. General Zala pulled out a P-38 pistol and cocked it back. "Get up now, or she dies Athrun!" he continued to threaten Athrun. Both Cagalli and Athrun slowly got up. General Zala glared at Athrun. Guards with MP40's came in. General Zala started taking all the bullets from his pistol, but one remained. "Here." General Zala handed Athrun the pistol. "What is this father?" Athrun asked with shock. "You will put this natural trash out of her misery. Now shoot her!" Athrun shouted back. "No! I will not father."

"Kill her, or I will kill her for you." General Zala boomed. "And mark my words boy mark them well, I will make her suffer a very slow and a very painful death. You'll even have to watch it and hear her scream!" General Zala became impatient.

Athrun's eyes widened more at his father last statement. He remembered back when he was a child, his father would torture men to get military information from them. He remembered the screams of anguish as his father tortured them to a slow and painful death. "If you pull the trigger, you will be able to be a soldier of this glorious army once again. Now hurry up!" General Zala commanded, growing more impatient. Athrun took the gun, he knew that he was in a losing position. Cagalli sank to her knees, devastated. "First thing's first father; what is the whole purpose of the Nazi regime?" Athrun asked sternly. "To create a perfect race, a coordinator race, but to do that, we have to wipe out the naturals. Wipe them off the face of this earth." General Zala grinned evilly. Athrun looked past his father and noticed tears welling up in Cagalli's eyes. Athrun slowly pointed the gun at Cagalli, aiming for her head. His hands were shaking, tears were forming in his eyes and later, a few drops slid down his cheeks. General Zala saw these tears. "You're weak Athrun, just pull that damn trigger!" General Zala screamed. Athrun changed the direction of the gun and aimed at his fathers' chest hastily and shot him. The guards immediately knocked Athrun and Cagalli out and quickly tended to General Zala's wounds, but General Patrick Zala was in a critical condition, most likely to die. Thunder roared in the background.

The Major was exhausted from driving the Kubelwagen by himself for hours, he was grateful that Captain Bratkov had been his navigator. Meanwhile driving around the countryside, Lieutenant Jensen fell asleep, while Jensen was sleeping, Shinn and Stellar took advantage of the situation. But The Major quickly caught them secretly kissing again. The Major felt extremely annoyed this time. But an evil smirk was seen by Captain Bratkov, he knew exactly what the back passengers were doing and he also knew what to do, The Major gave a nod to Captain Bratkov, which was enough for Captain Bratkov to understand. Captain Bratkov held on tight. The Major suddenly whammed down the brakes, causing Shinn and Stellar to hit each other in the head, while Jensen almost flew out of the jeep. "I warned you two from the start! No 'stuff' out of the ordinary, especially when we are in the danger zone. Lieutenant Jensen, please smack those two for me every time they try to do 'that'. Next time, Captain Bratkov, Jensen and I will drive this jeep while I force you two to walk. IS THAT CLEAR?" The Major thundered. "Yes sir." the two troopers all looked nervously at The Major. This time, Shinn and Stellar got the message loud clear to them. "Good, we'll move in then." The Major casually said as he accelerated the jeep and continued his course. "Listen up both of you. When we get back to the lines, the General will be absolutely pleased, so if we apply for RnR, the General can't reject us. So you two, Shinn and Stellar, you can do whatever you want and I won't be able to say a thing." Shinn and Stellar both had excited looks on their faces, Jensen also looked happy. "What will happen to me when I get there?" Captain Bratkov asked. "For you Captain, the war will be over, unless of course you volunteer to keep fighting on the western front." The Major smiled.

The Major stopped at a barn house, they did not know if it was abandoned or not. The Major was the first to check, he slowly opened the barn door and entered quietly just incase he might startle a local, he signaled for the troopers to lock and load. He quietly came back to regroup with the squad. "Alright squad, I saw a couple of Krauts in there, we better be on guard. I'm thinking that we should capture them and get any information from them about the positions of bunkers and roadblocks." The Major whispered. As soon as they locked and loaded, the squad stormed the barn shouting for them to surrender, two of the enemy soldiers tried to pick up their rifles to fight back, they were both mowed down by a long burst of The Major's Thompson sub-machinegun. All the other soldiers surrendered. Two ZAFT soldiers were killed while three surrendered.

"What should we do with them sir?" Sergeant Asuka asked guarding the three who were all on their knees and had their hands on their heads. "We'll interrogate them, use any means necessary to get the information we want." The Major replied. Captain Bratkov interrupted: "I can interrogate them. I'm quite good at it without breaching the Geneva Convention." Captain Bratkov smirked. "Very well, Captain. You may proceed with the interrogations." The Major confidently said, showing his complete trust to Captain Bratkov. Even though Captain Bratkov was new to the squad, he had already respected The Major as a commander and as a man. "I want you to get information on all or any roadblocks, patrols and bunkers." The Major said specifically. Captain Bratkov took the soldiers to another room, with a map and a gun. "Why doesn't he take any other tools with him?" Shinn asked staring at The Major for answers. "I only know Captain Bratkov for a couple of days and yet, I trust him more than anyone, even you." The Major stared back at Shinn with a smirk on his face. "But I've known you since boot camp sir." Shinn looked puzzled. "Well I keep telling you and Loussier to stop doing 'stuff', but you don't listen to me anyway." The Major continued to smirk. Shinn remained silent. "Alright both of you, Loussier and Asuka, get up on the second floor and keep on the lookout for anyone else on approach." The Major ordered. "Yes sir!" both Shinn and Stellar climbed a ladder to the second floor. "Don't even think about doing 'that', I'm gonna be watching you two." The Major warned.

Captain Bratkov came out in ten minutes with all three prisoners unharmed, but they were all frightened. One ZAFT soldier had wet his pants. The Major looked pleased. "Captain Bratkov, I assume that you got the information we needed?" Captain Bratkov smirked. His smirk made The Major think that what he had stated before had sounded like an understatement. "I got a lot more than that Major Park. We have all the roadblocks from Dortmund to Bonn. I also managed to get all the MG emplacements ranging from here to the front lines and sniper positions and almost all the bunkers and observation posts." "My gosh! What the hell did you do to get them to talk?" The Major widened his eyes.  
"I threatened to crush their balls on a vice." Captain Bratkov smirked even harder. Lieutenant Jensen couldn't help but snigger. "All the information is on this map Major." Captain Bratkov raised the map triumphantly. "Well done Captain Bratkov, well done." The Major praised. "So what do we do about them?" Jensen pointed to the prisoners.  
"We have no choice but to put liquid cyanide in their food. We can't take them with us." Major Park explained. "We have all day, to make them eat up. Any objections?" The Major said quietly making sure the ZAFT soldiers did not hear them. "Just don't tell Sergeant Asuka and Corporal Loussier." The Major added.

On the second floor of the barn, Shinn and Stellar took turns on watch while talking to each other. "What should we do when we get our RnR?" Stellar asked Shinn looking curious. "I say we get a room at an inn and just do whatever we want after that." Shinn looked at Stellar. "Remember what the Major said, we can do whatever we want whenever we want and he won't be able to say a thing." Shinn smiled.

"You know Stellar, I'm glad that I lied about my age to join the paratroopers, if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have met you." Shinn said while blushing. He also noticed that Stellar was blushing a light red. "Me too Shinn." Stellar replied nervously. Stellar got closer to Shinn ignoring The Major's warning, Shinn also reached for Stellar… "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU COORDINATORS?" The Major screamed at Shinn and Stellar, catching them red handedly. "Ok then you two, do whatever you want and get us all killed. I guess you coordinators won't be listening to a natural like me then." Shinn and Stellar both looked in confusion. "You're a natural sir?" Shinn said dumbfounded. "But sir, you're a tactical genius with an IQ of 194 and your strength and stamina set military records." Stellar pointed out. "I thought coordinators were meant to be stronger and smarter than the average natural." Shinn stated. The Major's face was as red as a ripe tomato tinting a little purple, he looked like he had a Hawkins mine ready to blow. "YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE I'M A NATURAL, YOU THINK THAT I'M A STUPID, WEAK, LAZY MONGROL?" The Major exploded making an 88mm shell look like nothing. "N-no s-s-sir, I meant Major. W-w-well we actually thought that you were a coordinator like us because you were so strong and intelligent." Shinn started to shake at The Major's sudden outburst. The ZAFT prisoners were more shaken up. "I'm a hundred percent natural, one hundred percent damn it! That's right one hundred percent!" The Major continued. "Captain Bratkov, tell us that an intelligent man like you are a natural like myself." The Major politely said eying Captain Bratkov. Captain Bratkov looked confused and stated: "Actually Major, I'm a Russian." The Major looked like he was stabbed with more annoyance and slapped himself in the head. Shinn, Stellar and Christian couldn't help but laugh to themselves quietly. "Never mind Captain Bratkov." The Major sighed. "Sergeant Asuka and Corporal Loussier, if I hear another word from you two about putting down a natural, I will personally make you charge at the enemy MG nests. UNDERSTOOD?" Major Park screamed. "Y-y-y-y-y-yes sir." Shinn and Stellar said while taking in The Major's death glares.

In Colditz, Athrun awoke, his head was aching with pain and he found Cagalli next to him still unconscious. "Cagalli wake up, wake up." Athrun whispered whilst shaking her gently. Cagalli regained consciousness and opened her amber eyes slowly. "Athrun, you shot him, you shot your father." Cagalli muttered while slowly forcing herself up. Athrun felt the burden and guilt again. He looked down shamefully as he bitterly tasted the experiences of shooting his own father and hoping with all of his heart that his father was dead. Suddenly the cell door swung wide open. Colonel Steiger was with armed guards, the Colonel himself was armed with his P-38 pistol. "So traitor, you decide to go against your own fathers wishes. You are no son of that great man." Colonel Steiger boomed. Athrun could only look shamefaced at the Colonel. "Luckily, your father's okay. You shot just above the heart Zala, he's making a fine recovery now, he can almost walk properly." Colonel Steiger continued to give Athrun glares of hate.

Athrun widened his eyes with fear at the news of his father's fast recovery. "For now, you and that natural trash can rot in here while we wait for General Zala to decide what to do with both of you." Colonel Steiger slammed the cell door shut leaving Athrun and Cagalli terrified.  
"No!" Athrun cried. "My father will torture both of us to death for sure." Athrun slammed his fists on the floor. "Nothing will happen to you Athrun." Cagalli said as she got out a red stone pendant. "This is the Haumea pendant, Haumea is the goddess of fertility and childbirth, it will protect you Athrun." Cagalli said putting the pendant around Athrun's neck. "No Cagalli, I can't." Athrun looked up at Cagalli.

"You're too unstable Athrun. Besides, it's a gift." Cagalli smiled. Athrun looked at the shiny red pendant for a moment before saying anything. "Thank you Cagalli." Athrun said whilst smiling. "Well since you'll be cold again tonight, how about I warm you up again?" Athrun smirked. Cagalli smacked Athrun across his shoulder. "Hmph! don't even think about it Zala." Cagalli raised her voice.

The Major had cooked a can of beans and spam for the prisoners, he then put them in three empty cans, secretly putting in drops of colourless liquid which was cyanide. "Jensen. Give these to the prisoners." The Major ordered grimly. Lieutenant Jensen gave the three ZAFT soldiers their meals. The ZAFT soldiers seemed surprised and thankful for receiving such kindness from their enemy. The ZAFT soldiers were easy to fool as they all ate their given food. After a couple of minutes, all the ZAFT soldiers died a painless and an immediate death. The Major was glad that there was no pain involved. The others were also glad. When Shinn and Stellar asked: "What's wrong with the prisoners?" The Major simply answered: "We put sleeping drugs in their food so we can make our escape." Of course, no one in the squad had sleeping drugs. If anyone had them, they would have been used instead of cyanide. "Let's go squad, it's getting dark." Major Park bitterly said as he watched saw the lifeless bodies of the ZAFT soldiers. "Who'll be my navigator in front?" The Major asked. Captain Bratkov stepped forward. "I will be the navigator Major." The Major smiled. "Thank you Captain Bratkov."

As the squad from Easy Company got in the car, Shinn noticed the boot of the car was hanging open. He curiously opened the boot of the car. "Check it out Major, we got extra gas." Shinn cried out in excitement. An entire barrel of gasoline was found.

"Shoot Major! What a find. Don't you agree sir?" Shinn asked. The Major nodded vaguely with an emotionless face. "Sergeant Asuka and Corporal Loussier go inside and look for more food and ammo. Don't touch the ZAFT soldiers or make too much noise, they might wake up." The Major said with hesitation. When Shinn and Stellar was out of sight, Captain Bratkov turned to face The Major who was staring at the ground.  
"You did the right thing The Major. You gave them a painless death." Captain Bratkov said. "I don't mind killing men on the battlefield, but killing them in cold blood is another story completely." The Major reasoned. "The Major, never in my years of taking orders from any commander have I seen someone who treats both sides with respect. And I have never come across the most skilled and intelligent person in my entire life." Captain Bratkov explained. "What you did was the best option that you could take. You have to think about the lives of your squad now. You have their respect and you also have mine Major." Captain Bratkov continued to praise Major Park. "Thank you Captain, you're right, I can't carry this guilt around for the rest of my life." The Major suddenly brightened up to his boot camp Sergeant mode.

"Shinn, Stellar, let's get the hell outta here!" The Major shouted.

The Major and his squad had met no resistance, twenty minutes later, Captain Bratkov halted The Major upon a cross road. The darkness around prevented The Major to see the current problem. "What is it Captain Bratkov?" The Major asked.  
"There are two trenches on the other side of that cross road about fifteen metres apart. Fortunately, they're facing the opposite direction, so surprising them should be easy, but I'm just worried about the second trench." Captain Bratkov observed his map.

"Let me take care of the second trench." The Major said raising the confidence of the squad. "Alright squad, beyond that crossroad is a trench defense line facing the other way. All we have to do is quietly sneak up and take out the Krauts in there, then we all stay low and we'll plan our next step from there. So everyone lock and load and fix bayonets." The Major planned. Everyone quietly reloaded and fixed their bayonets. "We'll leave the Kubelwagen here, after we take them out we'll come back and get our ride and then continue our advance, Jensen, you're staying here with that bad foot of yours." The Major explained pointing at Jensen's foot. "Sir, I'm fine, I can run fine." Jensen complained. "Fine Jensen, don't let us down." The Majorgave Jensen a short stare. "Is everyone ready? Let's go."


	11. Chapter 11

The Major and the squad sneaked slowly trying not to make any noise. As the squad inched closer and closer, they could hear the ZAFT soldiers murmuring, as they got closer, their trenches were visible and so was the second trench. The ZAFT soldiers in the trenches were visible now. The 101st airborne was only ten metres away, tension grew with each silent step, The Major got within range of the soldiers, he and Captain Bratkov sprayed the trench with their sub-machineguns while the other squad members picked off the remaining ZAFT soldiers in the first trench. A haze of spent gunpowder immediately filled the air. Shouts from the second trench had erupted a hail of machinegun fire, the airborne squad had jumped in the trenches in time just before the bullets could hit them.  
"Regroup squad." The Major shouted whilst machinegun fire was rattling in the background. "Alright squad, here's how the plan works. Captain Bratkov, Sergeant Asuka and I will be providing covering fire while Lieutenant Jensen and Corporal Loussier will both throw two grenades each. After the grenades explode; Loussier, Jensen and Asuka will provide covering fire while Captain Bratkov and I will charge the lines and clear that trench out. Understood?" The Major shouted amongst gunfire. Everyone nodded.

The machineguns at the other side of the trenches were still rattling about and whizzing past the trench that the airborne squad was in. Everyone knew their part and was ready. "Captain Bratkov, Sergeant Asuka, wait for my command to suppress that trench." The Major slowly lifted his head protected by the M1 steel helmet. He waited for the machine gunners to run out of ammunition. A few seconds later, the enemy machinegun stopped rattling. The Major screamed: "Suppressing fire!" The Major and Captain Bratkov sprayed a hail of bullets at the enemy gunners while Sergeant Shinn Asuka had pounded the enemy positions with his .30cal BAR, Shinn was gritted his teeth showing his aggressiveness and his eyes were full of fury. The enemy ducked to protect themselves from the deadly hail of bullets. Corporal Loussier and Lieutenant Jensen threw two grenades each as far as they could. The squad quickly reloaded their weapons and waited for the explosions. The explosions from the grenades came one after the other sending shrapnel whizzing around every direction. "Captain Bratkov let's go!" The Major shouted getting out of the trench and charging the enemy trench with Captain Bratkov while Sergeant Asuka, Lieutenant Jensen and Corporal Loussier provided a second wave of suppressing fire. The Major sprinted as fast as he could, Captain Bratkov was only metres behind. As Major Park predicted, the enemy soldiers were all in their trenches ducking from the hail of gunfire. The Major squeezed the trigger of his Thompson killing most of the ZAFT soldiers, while Captain Bratkov came shortly after killing the rest, while everyone else ran forward to meet The Major and Captain Bratkov.

The Major and Captain Bratkov gathered enemy weapons and ammo as they had all used almost all their ammunition. "Squad, we have hell of a lot of the ZAFT weapons and ammo. We have the bolt-action rifle that we are not gonna use whatsoever. Instead, we are gonna be using the MP40 sub-machineguns." The Major explained. "Loussier, since you're the deadest shot here, you can have the scoped Mauser sniper rifle." The Major passed Stellar the sniper rifle. "Jensen and I will have the MP40 sub-machinegun." The Major threw the MP40 at Jensen. "Last but not least, Sergeant Asuka. You will be taking the MG-34 light machinegun." The Major pointed to the enemy machinegun.

"Now quickly gather your ammo and throw your old weapons away, we have too little ammo to have any use for them." The Major said hesitating to throw his Thompson away. The rest of the squad also dropped their old weapons and gathered their best suited ammunition for their weapons. "Okay, let's get outta here, the explosions and gunfire would have alerted the patrols nearby." The Major started leading the men towards the Kubelwagen. Shinn seemed to be grinning about the firepower of his newly acquired weapon. "Alright everyone, hang on tight, this is gonna be a bumpy ride." The Major said while accelerating the Kubelwagen.

Only a few minutes later, The Major and his squad encountered ten ZAFT trucks, full of soldiers heading their way and shooting at them. "Holy shit sir! What the hell do we do now?" Lieutenant Jensen shouted. "We're not gonna be your supper you ZAFT assholes!" Major Park yelled as The Major made a sharp U-turn away from the convoy at full speed. "Where the hell are we going sir?" Shinn asked. "Back to those bloody trenches. We'll ambush them all there and if I'm right, we'll catch them by surprise and we'll be able to force them to retreat." The Major said. As the squad reached the trenches, The Major hid the Kubelwagen behind a small hedgerow and sprinted to avoid being seen before the enemy convoys arrived. Sergeant Asuka set up his MG-34 machinegun and equipped it with armour piercing rounds. The whole squad lay silent waiting for the convoy to arrive. Moments later the trucks all arrived slowly in single file. The soldiers were all keeping their eyes open for any movement. "Everyone fire on my command." The Major whispered as the trucks inched closer and closer. "Fire!" The Major screamed. A sudden storm of lead started flying everywhere. The ZAFT soldiers in front all suddenly dropped dead as the first truck exploded. The whole convoy halted, the ZAFT soldiers charged while firing. "Hold the line!" The Major yelled pumping lead into the advancing troops. Sergeant Asuka was taking short bursts into the enemy wave. "Pour it all Sergeant Asuka! Give them hell!" The Major yelled.

"I want fire superiority! Keep them pinned down!" The Major continued. The Major, Captain Bratkov and Lieutenant Jensen all suppressed the enemy with the sub- machineguns, while Corporal Loussier picked off the ZAFT soldiers that had a good flanking position. Sergeant Asuka kept firing his machinegun in short bursts saving the armour piercing rounds for more incoming vehicles. The Major screamed:

"Damn it Asuka keep firing! What are you saving your ammo for?" The Major continued firing his MP40. "I said I want fire superiority Asuka, keep their heads down!" The Major boomed. Shinn started unleashing a hell load of fire causing the enemy to retreat. "That's how we do it Asuka, good job." The Major praised. "Everyone keep vigilant. They might attack again." The Major said as he saw the pure carnage. Scores of men lay dead or wounded, three trucks were destroyed while The Major and his squad received no casualties and still had ample amount of ammunition.

"What do we do now sir?" Shinn asked with a grim face. "Let's get outta here before the ZAFT get in reinforcements and some armoured support." Jensen hastily said. Major Park quickly devised a plan, "If we go now Jensen, we'll be sitting ducks, so you might as well paint a bulls eye on yourself. However if we set up our ambush further up where they won't be expecting us, we can take the full element of surprise and flank them into a bottleneck position and take them out." Captain Bratkov pointed out: "We don't have any anti-tank weapons, we have the armour piercing rounds from that machinegun, but that will only pierce vehicles not steel plated tanks." Shinn said. The Major simply had the plan of bottlenecking the tanks and then disabling them. "We don't need anti-tank weapons. All we have to do is disable them. When the tanks get within a close range, we can throw grenades through the tanks opening view and kill the tank crews." Major Park explained. Everyone in the squad agreed on the idea. "After we push back the second assault, they'll resort to mortar or artillery bombardment. That's when we can make our escape." Major Park started picking up ammunition from the dead soldiers. "Pack in some more ammo. Asuka, get more ammo for that machinegun of yours." Major Park pointed to a crate full of MG-34 ammunition. The airborne squad re-supplied until they couldn't hold anymore. They packed themselves with the ZAFT equipment; grenades, ammunition, weapons and food. "Corporal Loussier. Get yourself an MP40, that sniper won't be very useful for an ambush." Captain Bratkov ordered. "He's right Loussier, get an MP40 right away." Major Park said, reinforcing Captain Bratkov's orders.

"Alright, let's move at least two hundred metres away from here and find a good place to ambush them." Major Park said. "Let's move squad!"

After minutes of running with caution and weighed down by the weight of ammo, the squad found a good ambush spot. The Major planned to set up a line of fire facing the side flanks next to a one way road leading to the trench defenses. Darkness would completely cover their hiding spot. "Let's set up here squad." The Major whispered. "Sergeant Asuka hit the dirt ten metres from the side of this road covering our left flank. Everyone else, let's set up seven metres away from this road." The Major ordered. After minutes of silence a rumble was heard. "Everyone brace yourselves, they're coming." The Major said cocking his MP40.

"Sir it's my stomach. I hadn't had anything to eat yet." Lieutenant Jensen said getting out a K-ration unit. "Well eat up, I don't want your stomach giving away our positions." The Major rolled his eyes. "Anyone that needs to eat now as well may do so, just don't eat anything that makes a crunching noise." The Major explained getting out a tin of spam.

Ten minutes later, the roar of tanks were heard, the ground shook and vibrated. "Everyone fire after I take my first shot." The Major said loading his MP40. Everyone readied their weapons and took aim waiting for the first signs of the ZAFT. Moments later a Tiger tank was seen, slowly thundering its way on the road. A platoon of ZAFT soldiers were behind the tank, they were looking relaxed and carefree. The Major waited, as he waited another Tiger tank had appeared. The Major then opened fire on the ZAFT platoon unleashing a hail of bullets. The hurricane of fire provided by the rest of the squad disintegrated the entire platoon. "Cover me!" The Major screamed. He rushed forth with grenades towards the first Tiger tank slowly turning its turret. The Major pulled the pin from the grenade and hurled it into the tanks opening from its front slit. Shouting from inside the Tiger tank was heard as the crew tried to get out, but were too late. The grenade exploded leaving no one inside the tank alive. The Major sprinted towards the second Tiger tank.

Another three platoons suddenly appeared on the other side thirty metres away, The Major quickly hurled two ZAFT 'potato mashers' (stick grenades) into the second Tiger tank, The Major then sprinted back towards the ambush position, the ZAFT platoons were firing at The Major, a trail of bullets followed The Major who then dived out of the line of fire joining the rest of his squad. Two loud explosions were heard from inside the second Tiger tank. "Come on guys you were supposed to cover me." The Major slapped Jensen across his helmet. The two Tiger tanks were immobile and taken out. Captain Bratkov seemed amazed with The Major. "Major, in all my years of being in the great Red Army, I have never seen anyone do something as freaking insane as what you have done." Captain Bratkov patted The Major's shoulder. "Thank me later Captain Bratkov, after we get rid of these Krauts." The Major yelled while spraying his MP40 at the enemy. Sergeant Asuka was greatly suppressing the ZAFT, keeping their heads down, therefore unable to fire back. Suddenly, two more Tiger tanks appeared, "Oh great, just what we need." The Major said sarcastically. "Everyone cover me, I'm gonna go on another run." The Major screamed as he pulled out a couple of grenades.

The first Tiger tank suddenly was blasted into flames. "What the hell was that?" The Major yelled. The second Tiger tank then blew up shortly afterwards. The remaining ZAFT soldiers then broke ranks and fled the battlefield dropping their weapons in terror.  
A tank covered with branches and small trees suddenly appeared unleashing a torrent of machinegun fire at the fleeing ZAFT soldiers. "Wahoo!" Sergeant Asuka cheered.

"Let's mow down the rest of the ZAFT soldiers, everyone give it all you got!" The Major yelled. The airborne squad then unleashed their final furious hail of gunfire, hitting most of the ZAFT soldiers that were fleeing. "I think it's safe to say that the tank over there is a friendly." Jensen said taking his helmet off to wipe off his sweat. The tanker got out of his camouflaged tank revealing a young tank ace. His purple eyes stared at the squad of airborne troopers. "Airborne troopers? What are you doing out here?" Kira asked. The Major stepped forward. "It's a long story kid, I'm not in the mood to tell stories today. What about you?" The Major asked with his dark brown eyes on Kira's light purple eyes. _"Oh gosh! It's another coordinator, what a surprise! There aren't many naturals in this army."_ The Major thought. "I'll be brief, I'm going to Dortmund. There's a castle called Colditz, I'm gonna go and free my sister there." Kira explained briefly. The Major shook his head in disbelief. "You're nuts, just to go and rescue your sister from the front lines kiddo." Major Park said. Kira smiled as he always does.

"That sister of mine is the representative of the Orb union. Cagalli Yula Athha." Kira explained. The Major looked stunned taking time to take in Kira's words.  
"Miss Athha is your sister… and she's in Colditz right now?" The Major asked.  
"That's right." Kira said. "So where did you say you were going again?" Kira asked.  
"Back to the front lines." The Major stated. "We can help you get Miss Athha back Mr.…?" The Major gestured. "Lieutenant Kira Yamato." Kira replied saluting The Major. "Major... Park, U.S 101st airborne paratroopers of Easy Company." Major Park saluted back. "This is my squad; Lieutenant Jensen, Captain Bratkov from the Red Army and your fellow coordinators: Sergeant Shinn Asuka and Corporal Stellar Loussier." Major Park pointed to his squad. Kira jumped off his tank to meet Major Park face to face while smiling brightly. Kira saluted again. "Sir, I've heard of your legendary exploits and I would like to say what an honour it is to be with you sir." Kira said.  
"Don't salute me Lieutenant Yamato. Your exploits and tank kills would exceed my own exploits any day." Major Park grabbed Kira's arm and helping him to be at ease.

"Before we advance any further, we all need to rest. Look how exhausted my men… and woman are Lieutenant Yamato." Major Park said, almost forgetting that Stellar was the only girl soldier in his squad and in the entire Allied combat army in that matter.

"Of course Major, you know what's best. I will be under your command." Kira said respectfully. "I'll go fetch the Kubelwagen and then we'll get some shut eye." Major Park said looking at his exhausted troops. Their dark bags under their eyes were full of exhaustion.

After Major Park got the Kubelwagen from his hideout, the squad along with Kira sought shelter in a forest once again. "Let's plan this whole mess out tomorrow squad, get some rest. You certainly deserve it." Major Park said in a calm and proud voice. Everyone sighed with relief. Shinn Stellar and Jensen immediately fell asleep, while Captain Bratkov, Lieutenant Yamato and Major Park stayed up making plans early. "Captain Bratkov, I will take Asuka and Loussier with me, I want you to stay here with Jensen and the Kubelwagen." Major Park said. "Understood Major." Captain Bratkov acknowledged. Suddenly a rustle was heard. Major Park and Captain Bratkov grabbed their weapons sneaking to the source that made the sound. A German soldier not from ZAFT was sneaking around. Major Park wanted to capture this prisoner. "Come-a ze here!" Major Park warned the soldier pointing the MP40 at him. "Come-a ze here sch-now!" Major Park said in a firm tone. The soldier understood although Major Park's German was absolutely terrible, the German soldier dropped his weapon and surrendered.

The German soldier had been searched. Nothing important was identified.

"Captain Bratkov, I want you to tie him up on a tree, blindfold him and guard him with Jensen. Feed him and don't put cyanide in his food." Major Park ordered.  
"What will we do with him after?" Captain Bratkov asked. "Before we leave, we'll knock him out cold and then leave him here for his Kraut friends to pick him up, or he can get to them." Major Park explained. Captain Bratkov and Lieutenant Yamato were impressed with the idea. The prisoner was blindfolded and tied to a tree under the close eyes of the squad. "I suggest we all get our rest. We only have a couple of hours."


	12. Chapter 12

Stellar awoke by the sound of planes roaming around the skies miles away. Major Park also awoke, everyone else were still deep asleep, even the Kraut prisoner. The deep roar of the engines only meant one thing. "It's our B-17 bombers." Major Park said. A few moments later the scream of bombs dropping were heard with loud explosions shortly after. Major Park kept staring at the sunrise resting upon the light red skies now fading to an azure blue. To Major Park, this was a sight so sweet. Major Park just sat back and smiled at this setting while Stellar was cooking up breakfast for herself and Shinn. Major Park turned around to face Stellar. "You know Loussier, maybe I was a bit too hard on you and Asuka." Major Park said. Stellar looked lost. "What are talking about sir?" Stellar asked. "I now permit you and Asuka to be able to… you know." Major Park said not wanting to say the 'words' out loud. Stellar blushed and couldn't help but giggle. "Just don't do anything advanced until we get our RnR application approved Loussier." Major Park warned with a firm tone. "Yes sir." Stellar walked off to cook breakfast while Shinn and Christian were still asleep.

Whilst Christian, Stellar and Shinn were having their breakfast, Major Park, Captain Bratkov and Lieutenant Yamato got together to plan on succeeding their next objectives. "I suggest we go at the dead of night." Major Park advised. Kira looked impatient with the idea. "But that's still about twelve hours away." Kira complained. "We have to get Cagalli out of there as soon as possible." Kira explained. "Major, for you anything is possible, you can devise another master plan to get her out." Kira said desperately. "Listen Yamato, I'm not such a good tactician that I can take out the whole ZAFT army with just four men and a tank, we have to be patient. No buts, ifs or maybes." Major Park ordered. Captain Bratkov nodded with agreement. "Listen Lieutenant Yamato, if there's one thing I learnt about being in Major Park's squad, it's that: whatever Major Park orders, is the best thing to do." Captain Bratkov gave Kira an honest look. Kira sighed with agreement. "So besides executing this objective at the dead of night, what else should we do?" Kira asked. Major Park smiled. "Well, when arriving at Colditz, taking out the guards will be relatively easy, but when we make our escape, we'll have so many obstacles in our way. We'll be facing battalion after battalion after battalion. So we won't stand a chance getting out of ZAFT controlled territory." Major Park said with great intelligence. "So what do we do?" Kira asked. "Well since we are going to the great castle of Colditz, holding at least a thousand Allied prisoners, we can free them and give them each some guns from the dead guards and the barracks with some grenades and handguns, therefore they can scatter throughout the ZAFT territory causing confusion and disorganization amongst the ZAFT forces. Therefore we will be able to make our escape with less difficulty." Major Park concluded with a smirk.

Captain Bratkov and Lieutenant Yamato were absolutely impressed with Major Park's tactics. Even though Kira had admired Major Park from hearing about his exploits, now he was ever so impressed. "That just about sums the rescue operation up." Major Park said. Captain Bratkov suggested: "Major Park, there won't be enough weapons and ammunition for the prisoners that we'll release. We have to get them more weapons." Captain Bratkov explained. "We can get weapons and ammunition from those ZAFT soldiers we killed last night, we killed hundreds. We can go and gather them. I'll assign Sergeant Asuka and Lieutenant Jensen to dress in ZAFT uniform and take the Kubelwagen and start gathering from the ZAFT soldiers we killed there." Major Park said with great intelligence once again. "That way the enemy will think that they were sent from Axis HQ to gather weapons and ammo from the dead. We'll send them immediately." Major Park said walking over to Shinn and Christian while they were still having their spam and bean breakfast.

When Shinn and Christian got into German uniform, they set out with the Kubelwagen. Stellar was worried and strolled backwards and forwards. "Loussier, cook up some breakfast for the Kraut prisoner that's tied up to that tree there." Major Park ordered. Stellar obeyed without complaint. The prisoner was extremely grateful to be treated well besides being tied up. Major Park untied the prisoner. "Captain Bratkov, you can speak German can't you?" Major Park asked. "Yes I can." Captain Bratkov said smirking. "Please tell him that he can now go out to do his 'business', while you stand guard." Major Park ordered. Captain Bratkov returned shortly after, breakfast was waiting for the prisoner. When Major Park handed him a tin of hot spam and beans, the prisoner replied: "Danke." Major Park knew that this meant: 'Thank you' and got out two cigarettes and gave it to the prisoner. "Captain Bratkov, would you like a cigarette too?" Major Park asked. Captain Bratkov took the cigarette and nodded to show his appreciation.

An hour later, Shinn and Christian came back with a Kubelwagen full of weapons and ammunition. The jeep moved slowly into the safe point. Major Park was pleased with the find, as was the rest of the squad. The weapons were piled up, the trunk was full of rifles and grenades while Shinn and Christian were almost drowning in them. "Sir, you were right. After we beat back the second assault, the ZAFT mortared the entire place. We could have gotten more weapons and ammunition, but they were damaged from the mortar barrage." Shinn said. Christian was surprised to find the predictions that Major Park made were dead accurate. Major Park had full knowledge of the ZAFT tactics.

"Well done both of you, what say we all get some coffee?" Major Park smiled. After the coffee break, everyone was told about the objectives and the method of execution. Once again, everyone was impressed with Major Park's intelligent tactics.

"How do we organize the Allied prisoner's sir?" Shinn asked. "Good question Asuka. We will send them away four people to a squad, two men having guns with ammo and the other two will have grenades. Overall, I calculated that two hundred and fifty squads will be out in the ZAFT controlled territory looking for a way out. The ZAFT can't be everywhere at once and they have to take extreme caution when tracking the prisoners down again." Major Park explained. "So does anyone want to say something before we organize these guns and ammo?" Major Park asked. Kira stepped forward with a grin on his face. "I think that you are a pure genius sir." Kira remarked. "He's also a pure warrior." Captain Bratkov added. "Alright that's enough." Major Park scratched his head.

"We still have to plan on how to breach the castle and take the guards out." Major Park added. "Captain Bratkov, Lieutenant Jensen and Lieutenant Yamato, please come with me to discuss the plans." Major Park winked to Shinn and Stellar, "Loussier, Asuka. Bind the prisoner up and do whatever you want in your free time until we call you." Major Park continued. Stellar knew what Major Park meant and walked off along with Shinn who was a bit uncomfortable with the wink that Major Park gave them.

After Shinn and Stellar secured the prisoner, bind him to a tree and blindfolded him, Stellar took Shinn away grabbing him by his hand and dragging him behind the cover of thick trees. "What's going on Stellar?" Shinn asked looking rather confused. But before Shinn could say anything else, Stellar grabbed Shinn on the shoulders and started kissing him. Shinn tried to talk, but a mere muffle was heard. When Stellar painfully broke the kiss, Shinn looked around for any sign of Major Park.

"Stellar we can't, if the Major sees us doing this, he'll probably make us charge at a machinegun nest." Shinn said continuing to look around. "He's basically on our case twenty four/seven." Shinn whispered. Stellar chuckled. "Actually Shinn, he gave us permission while you were still asleep. But we can't do anything too advanced." Stellar said while seducing Shinn. Shinn smiled back. "I'm glad the Major has finally loosened up." Shinn smirked, kissing Stellar back gently. Every time they kissed, they thought back to when they first met. They were unaware however that the prisoner was not that far away and he was actively listening to what was going on.

Major Park planned his assault tactics once again. "We have to do one more thing before we leave Colditz." Major Park said. Lieutenant Jensen looked surprised, "One more? Come on sir, we already have enough on our hands." Jensen complained. "So first we somehow breach the castle, then we take out the entire guards, then we free the prisoners and then we distribute the ammunition and guns equally among the prisoners as fast as we can, we rescue the representative and then we do one more thing that you have in mind." Jensen complained. "Shut up Jensen! I'll be the one doing this not you." Major Park threatened. "So what do you have in mind?" Kira asked. "Well since there's gonna be such a ramble in the ZAFT defenses and the organization of their units will be scrambled all over the place, we can encourage HQ to call in the immediate frontline breakthrough, after this is achieved, the Allied push inwards to gain territory should be a lot easier. Colditz should have a communications room somewhere." Major Park explained. Everyone agreed to this idea.

"So while I'm talking to Allied HQ on radio, I want everyone to free the prisoners and distribute ammo and weapons arrange everyone in a four man squad." Major Park explained. Jensen still looked uncertain. "How are we gonna get the ammo and weapons up there?" Jensen asked. "We use that Kubelwagen, put all the spare weapons and grenades in there. We use the Lieutenant Yamato's tank to ram a hole through the entrance to make an opening." Major Park answered with an evil grin. Some believed that Major Park might have been a pyromaniac when he was young, he had always put on an evil grin whenever he planned to blow something up, plan anything to do with fire or perform demolition tasks. Major Park continued, "After we clear out the castle and release the prisoners, everyone meet at the entrance, that's when we distribute weapons and ammunition into four man squads." Major Park repeated. "That is all."

At the castle of Colditz, Cagalli and Athrun awoke with the sound of the prison door swinging wide open. Athrun and Cagalli were found once again in each others embrace. Athrun lifted his head to find his father with a hand gun. Although still in hansom uniform, General Zala was bandaged around the chest area and looked absolutely furious. "Athrun!" he growled. Athrun looked up in shock as Cagalli was still tight in his embrace. General Zala stepped forward pointing the gun at Athrun. "You shot me over this natural bitch!" pointing his gun at Cagalli, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in sheer terror. "Get up now Athrun!" General Zala boomed. Athrun was still in shock, his eyes were full of shock and confusion as he faced his angry father. General Zala kicked Athrun and stamped on him a score times before Athrun finally let go of Cagalli.

"Both of you get up now!" General Zala yelled.

Cagalli got up almost immediately, while Athrun rose slowly still recovering from the last blow that he received. As both got up, General Zala examined Cagalli. Cagalli broke off eye contact with General Zala and looked down. "You're pathetic Athrun. I can't believe you were seduced so easily by this bitch!" General Zala stated while still examining Cagalli, "Guards!" General Zala requested. "Take these two to the torture room immediately. The four guards came rushing in and dragged Athrun and Cagalli while both were struggling. General Zala followed them. The torture room was dark and dim. The stench of blood was thick with anguish and suffering. Colonel Steiger was waiting in the room. "Guards, chain Athrun to the wall and chain this bitch to the table." General Zala demanded. Athrun and Cagalli were both quickly chained in their positions. General Zala turned to face Athrun,

"Now Athrun, you are going to pay dearly and so is this bitch." General Zala grinned while Colonel Steiger attached electrodes around Cagalli's body. Cagalli was breathing heavily and cried out helplessly. Athrun watched with sheer terror. General Zala faced Athrun, "Soon you'll wish that you had killed her." General Zala grinned while Colonel Steiger also grinned with him.

After the torturing equipment was set up, Colonel Steiger gripped a lever and turned to General Zala, "Should we start Patrick?" Colonel Steiger asked ready to pull the lever. "Of course Leopold, but allow me to have the first honours." General Zala grinned. Colonel Steiger let go of the lever, "After you then." Colonel Steiger gestured. Athrun was shaking and trying to break the chains with no chance of success. "No father don't you dare think about hurting Cagalli!" Athrun yelled. General Zala and Colonel Steiger did not react to Athrun's threat. "In time, you will learn to fear me Athrun." General Zala said, as he said these words, General Zala pulled the lever. Electricity zapped and flowed vigorously through Cagalli's body causing her to arch back in pain, her body shook as she screamed loudly. Athrun was shouting and ranting. He was shaking and pulling at the chains that bound him to the wall with no avail. As the current of electricity was cut off, Cagalli started frothing at the mouth. "That's only the start my dear." General Zala said pulling the lever again. The second pulse of electricity passed through Cagalli's body causing her to scream even more. Athrun was still pulling at the chains. After minutes of continuous electric shocks, General Zala decided to stop. "That's enough, lets move on to the next method." General Zala said enthusiastically. Cagalli spurted out blood and moaned weakly. Tears were dropping out of Athrun's eyes. Colonel Steiger rolled in a barrel of water. "Ah that's perfect!" General Zala said enthusiastically. The torture table adjusted to being movable. Colonel Steiger placed the barrel under the torture table. General Zala moved the torture table and dipped Cagalli's head in the barrel of water, Cagalli's body started shaking. "That's enough!" Athrun yelled. General Zala ignored Athrun and continued. After a few moments, General Zala brought the torture table back to its normal position, Cagalli broke the surface and gulped for air.

General Zala repeated this process over and over for ten minutes. Athrun was reduced to quiet tears while watching Cagalli suffer. "Let that be enough for you." General Zala said staring at Cagalli. General Zala faced Athrun. "Don't worry, it's your turn now traitor." General Zala punched Athrun in the intestine area over and over again. General Zala then unchained Athrun who fell on his knees. General Zala picked Athrun up pushing him against the wall, General Zala started beating Athrun, punching him for as long as five minutes. Athrun fell to the ground bruised and bleeding. Despite this General Zala stomped on Athrun and continuously kicked him. "That's enough for both of you for today." General Zala stated. "Guards, take these prisoners both back to their cell now." General Zala ordered. The guards entered and dragged Athrun and Cagalli back to their cell. Cagalli started sobbing lightly unable to get up, Athrun dragged himself towards Cagalli and held her close drawing her into a warm embrace.

"Everyone, I want all spare weapons in that Kubelwagen now." Major Park ordered. "Sergeant Asuka, get yourself an MP40 now, that machinegun won't be any good in a rescue operation like this." Major Park pointed to the Kubelwagen full of MP40's. "Anyone who wants to eat but hasn't already should go now and do so, we leave in a couple of hours, everyone get ready." Major Park ordered his squad. After preparing early, Captain Bratkov and Major Park had for once talked about normal everyday things rather than military actions. "Major, do you have a wife or girlfriend?" Captain Bratkov curiously eyed. Major Park immediately answered: "No, none at all Captain." Major Park replied. "I have a wife and a little girl waiting for me in the motherland." Captain Bratkov said. "So why don't you have a wife or girlfriend? Has it ever come to mind?" Captain Bratkov asked curiously. "To be honest with you, I don't want one, my life is in the military. God told me that my mission was to fight and be an influential person in this hellish war, so after this war… I'm only going to be a mere figure of history." Major Park said in an easy voice. Captain Bratkov felt sympathetic towards Major Park. Kira interrupted, "Major Park, do you have anymore fuel?" Major Park got up and directed Kira towards an entire barrel of octane gasoline.

Darkness consumed the ZAFT controlled countryside once again. Major Park readied his squad for the great rescue operation and probably the most important in military history.

"Alright squad, everyone be vigilant. Jensen, you're driving the Kubelwagen and you're gonna be following Lieutenant Yamato's tank, everyone else, we'll save our energy and hitch on Yamato's tank until we get close to our target. You know what to do when we get there. We get inside castle, clear out castle, get weapons from barracks and dead guards, free all prisoners, distribute weapons and ammo to prisoners, send them to spread out and then high tail it outta there." Major Park said briefly. "Any questions?" Major Park asked. A long silence filled the air. "Good, let's knock out that prisoner and rescue Miss Cagalli."


	13. Chapter 13

Major Park's squad traveled cautiously for three hours reaching the outskirts of the city of Dortmund. Major Park and most of his squad sat on top of Kira's tank and slowly traveled along the hedgerows, the ZAFT controlled countries were full of them. "Everyone get off and on your guard let's go." Major Park whispered patting the hull of Kira's tank as a signal that Major Park was getting off. Major Park, Shinn and Stellar positioned themselves behind the tank in an inverted V-formation while Kira led the advance. Major Park jumped on Kira's tank and whispered to him through the hatch door, "Lieutenant Yamato, turn right and get behind those hedgerows and we'll sneak past their MG nests." Major Park looked at his map. Kira raised his brow, "How do you know there are MG nests?" Kira halted his tank almost making Major Park fall off, "Because we passed this area before and it wasn't pretty." Major Park replied sternly, remembering the time when he and his squad was almost target practice as clear as crystal. Kira accelerated, making a light turn right towards rows of thick and tall hedges, the squad followed in close quarters. "Now just travel along these hedgerows for about another ten minutes and we should be there." Major Park whispered jumping off the Freedom and reforming the inverted V-formation with his squad.

Kira stopped as soon as the castle was in sight. The castle of Colditz stood on a hill overlooking the town of Dortmund. Its dark, dull and ancient walls gave an uneasy feel to the air around it, especially with a rather large swastika and ZAFT military flags flopping in the chilling breeze. Major Park quickly scanned the area around the castle finding nothing but flat grassy terrain. He flicked his right hand pulling his sleeve down to shine his watch in the moonlight. The time was already 22:53. Major Park used his binoculars to scan the outer defenses of the castle, surprisingly only two guards were seen atop of the castle on sentry duty. The two soldiers were seen yapping away, smoking and playing chess. "Perfect, I'll bet they'll be like that all night." Major Park said to himself smiling while devising a cunning and swift plan of infiltration. Major Park and his squad stayed atop of a hill, covered by hedgerows just shy of two hundred metres away from the castle. From a distance, Major Park zoomed in on a Kubelwagen slowly driving its way towards the castle, the man in the Kubelwagen was a high commander of the Nazi Reich, either a General or a Field Marshall. The uniform that this person wore was very formal and classy. As this figure approached the entrance, Major Park saw this figure knock on the door, a few moments later, the huge, wooden castle door swung wide open. Behind the door, two guards were seen saluting. Major Park then planned his infiltration of the castle on the dusty ground.

At 23:06, the castle door swung open. A line of soldiers and guards marched out, a count of forty soldiers and guards marched out in a line heading for Dortmund. "Jeez!" Major Park smiled even more not believing his luck. "Is this a good day or what?" Major Park said to himself out loud while the rest of the squad was preoccupied with sorting out the hundreds of weapons and ammunition that lay waiting in the Kubelwagen.

"Everyone come in around me." Major Park immediately said after planning out an assault. Everyone all crouched around Major Park. "Okay everyone, this is the castle as you can see." Major Park said pointing to the outlines on the dusty ground. "We have two guards up on the castle on sentry duty, actually they're doing nothing. We also have two guards at the front entrance. Here's what we do." Major Park said pointing a stick at the outlines drawn on the dusty ground. "We will start our operation at twenty four hundred hours (midnight). Corporal Loussier, you will stay up here and keep an eye out on those two guards on sentry while Asuka, Jensen, Bratkov and I sneak up near the entrance, once I give you the signal, you shoot both the sentry guards, however if the sentry finds us first, you shoot them even if we aren't near the entrance." Major Park directed Stellar.

"Lieutenant Yamato will shoot at the main gate of the castle with the tank's 90mm high velocity gun after Corporal Loussier takes her first shot. Asuka and I will then toss our grenades through the entrance to clear the main entrance of any more soldiers." Major Park explained referring to the plan on the ground. Major Park then eyed Stellar, "After we toss our grenades Loussier and have taken out the sentry guards, you will drive the Kubelwagen to the entrance and stay will stay there until we or the prisoners arrive. If the prisoners arrive, you will start to distribute the weapons, ammunition and grenades in a four man squad. Remember, one MP40 with three magazines of ammo, one Mauser rifle with three clips of ammo and two grenades to a squad of four. You will then send them away." Major Park pointed his stick, "This is important Loussier, I'm counting on you."  
"Lieutenant Yamato, you will stay in your tank and destroy all reinforcements that try to arrive from Dortmund." Major Park gave a serious look while Kira gave a worried one. "Major Park, I would like to be in the rescue mission if that's fine with you sir." Kira complained. "Not a chance. If we want this rescue operation to work successfully, we have to have everyone doing their part Yamato." Major Park said yet again in a serious tone.

"Sir this is my sister we're talking about, I would like to be the one to rescue her." Kira said. Major Park just raised a brow, "Okay, you're just too overprotective of your sister, I assume that you never let any guy fancy her before." Major Park smirked. Kira grinned, "I don't need to be protective over her. The first guy that tried to seduce her got a taste of Cagalli's brutality with a baseball bat in their face… Speaking of which, I almost got chopped up when she once chased me around the house with a butcher's cleaver." Kira smirked. Everyone started laughing silently.

"Anyway, Yamato, you will eliminate any reinforcements coming in from Dortmund." Major Park said in a less serious tone. "Captain Bratkov, Sergeant Asuka and I will go in and eliminate all the guards and soldiers in the castle, I estimate that there will only be about twenty since forty guards left at around 23:00." Major Park relieved the rest of the squad. "Other than that, we then release all prisoners finding Miss Athha. When we've all released all the prisoners and secured Miss Athha, everyone gather weapons and ammo from dead guards and a weapons storage room, you will then get to the entrance and help distribute weapons and ammo among the prisoners to arrange a four man squad. Do this as quickly as possible." Major Park said. "Everyone be ready for zero hour." Major Park said looking at his watch reading 23:16. Everyone dispersed, Kira had gotten into his tank and slowly cranked his 90mm gun aimed at the entrance and everyone else started organizing the weapons and ammunition, Kira had joined as soon as he was sure that his gun was aimed properly at the main entrance of the castle. The squad all loaded the weapons which took almost twenty annoying minutes. After everything was prepared, there were only twenty minutes until zero hour. "Everyone do what you have to do before we plan this operation. If you need to eat and drink then do so now, otherwise check and clean your weapons before we get into combat." Major Park whispered loudly. Everyone dispersed, Christian was busting to go take a leak behind a bush and ran behind moaning, Kira tried to hold in any laughter watching Jensen's odd behavior.

Shinn pulled out a bar of Hershey's chocolate, sharing half of it with Stellar, "You had chocolate all this time?" Stellar asked taking a small bite out of her half of the dark chocolate. "Yeah, and I have another one here, you can have it after this operation." Shinn said taking a big bite out of his bar of chocolate. "You know what?" Shinn turned to face Stellar, "You might as well have it now." Shinn pulled another bar of Hershey's chocolate and gave it to Stellar. Major Park strolled over to Shinn and Stellar who seemed to be having a good time enjoying each others company. "I just can't believe someone as feminine as you got into the elite airborne unit." Major Park said staring at Stellar who was taking tiny bites out of her chocolate, she was more feminine than anyone that Major Park had set eyes on. "I always wonder how you got in." Major Park stated. Stellar smiled back in the most feminine way possible just to annoy Major Park, Major Park just sighed, "Never mind I best be going." Major Park strolled off rolling his eyes. Shinn resisted the laughter that filled his mind.

Stellar saw that she was given milk chocolate while Shinn had dark chocolate. She offered Shinn some light milk chocolate, but Shinn rejected, "No thanks, I really don't like light chocolate." Shinn said. Stellar raised her brow thinking that everyone loved milk chocolate, "Why not Shinn?" Stellar asked. "Well ever since I was little, our family was never allowed candy, but dark chocolate was allowed. It wasn't sweet but it seemed refined I guess." Shinn chuckled at the memories of his childhood. Stellar offered Shinn some of her milk chocolate, "Try some Shinn." Shinn politely declined, Stellar kept requesting Shinn to try some, but soon enough she gave up. Stellar smiled popping a piece of milk chocolate in her mouth while Shinn popped his chocolate piece in his mouth and began savouring the taste. Stellar came closer to Shinn, Shinn slightly jumped to see how close Stellar was to him, suddenly he felt her lips press against his, Shinn let out a small cry of surprise. Stellar broke off after a swift moment. An awkward silence filled the air around them as both of them were blushing wildly. Shinn had a sweet taste in his mouth and started rolling his tongue around, it was sweet, but not too sweet. "So how was it?" Stellar asked still blushing. Shinn was caught off by the question, but smiled back. "It tasted… quite good in fact." Shinn smiled rolling his tongue again. "I'm guessing it wasn't too sweet since it would have blended with the dark chocolate, so I'm guessing it was half dark and half milk chocolate." Stellar said idly still blushing. "It wasn't bad… wasn't bad at all." Shinn dazed off.

Inside Colditz, Athrun was bloodied and bruised from the beatings that his father had painfully given him several hours earlier while Cagalli was still in a lot of pain. The electric shock had made her feel numb and was hardly able to move. Athrun could only keep her warm wrapping his arms around her. Athrun could not bear to see her suffer any longer. Seeing Cagalli being tortured was worse than being beaten alive by his father, in fact he was glad that his father beat him instead of Cagalli. He then remembered what the old man at the chocolate shop had told him. He knew that he had feelings for Cagalli even though she was a natural, the 'true enemy'. Athrun knew that Chancellor Gilbert Durandal was giving false hope to the people under the Nazi regime. He now knew that Gilbert Durandal was evil and manipulative. Athrun felt that all of the efforts that he had ousted had been for pure evil; he could only blame himself for easily being brainwashed by Durandal and his Nazi's. Although Cagalli was still in pain, she was glad that Athrun was still with her. Cagalli always felt warm around Athrun for some reason, Athrun always treated her respectfully, unlike all the politicians and the ruling class people that she would normally be exposed to in the ORB union.

For hours, both Athrun and Cagalli did not say a single word after the tortures, but Athrun would be the first one to break the deadlock. "I'm sorry Cagalli… I'm sorry that I got you into this mess." Athrun whispered into her ears. "I should have set you free when we first met." Athrun continued to whisper feeling heartsick. There was no reply from Cagalli. Athrun continued to whisper, "Cagalli, please forgive me." Athrun said desperately. There was still no reply from Cagalli, only light breathing was heard in that dark cell. When Athrun turned Cagalli over, it was obvious that Cagalli was asleep. Athrun smiled lightly as Athrun soon started drifting into a peaceful sleep. This peaceful sleep was to be interrupted when the cell door opened, a bright beam of light entered the cell blinding Athrun as he put his hand in front of his face to stop the light from blinding him. The figure was undistinguishable, but this mans voice was to shock Athrun.

General Patrick Zala was at the cell door with a P-38 in his hand. "Well Athrun, I see that you're still on their side." Athrun faced his angry father. Cagalli woke up feeling a sense of fear and panic when she saw the figure standing tall in front of her. Athrun calmed her down. "Father, leave us be!" Athrun said sternly. General Zala looked rather surprised by his son's tone, "What did you say?" General Zala shouted in a threatening tone.

"Leave us be!" Athrun repeated more sternly. "You're not in the position of giving out orders Athrun, especially a traitor like you." General Zala boomed stepping forward in front of a frightened Cagalli who did nothing but look on helplessly with shock and fear. Athrun was quick to get up and step on front of Cagalli and face his father. General Zala looked in amusement, "What is this?" General Zala said grinning. "Don't you ever hurt Cagalli again father!" Athrun said in a serious tone.

"I thought you would've learnt your lesson Athrun." General Zala said punching Athrun in the stomach with great force causing Athrun to fall on his knees wincing and clutching his stomach. "You're weak Athrun, I expected you to fight back." General Zala said in an emotionless tone. "Why do you hate naturals so much father?" Athrun muttered. General Zala started shaking in anger, "Did you not know that the naturals are the ones that killed your mother?" General Zala shouted. "Your mother was on board the new ZAFT battleship Minerva, those blasted naturals were spying on our new technology and posed it as a threat. They are the ones that blew that ship up. She died in the hands of those natural scums!" General Zala shouted at Athrun. "You betrayed me Athrun." General Zala continued. Athrun looked up in shock, but quickly came back to his senses, "What is the whole aim of the PLANT's regime father?" Athrun asked. General Zala evilly grinned, "To exterminate the naturals off the face of this world!" General Zala stated.

Athrun was stunned at hearing the aim of the Nazi's, this time he knew that his father wasn't lying this time. "I'm going to do you a great favour Athrun." General Zala loaded his gun and pulled out another one. "Either you kill this natural and put her out of her misery now, or you continue to watch her get tortured." General Zala handed a P-38 to Athrun. "Don't even think about what you did last time Athrun, this gun has only one bullet." General Zala said as he pointed his own gun at Athrun. Cagalli lay on the cold concrete floor hearing every word, she closed her eyes not wanting to believe that Athrun's father was in the room tormenting her. Cagalli ignored the fact that small tears were now pouring from her eyes. Athrun saw these tears pouring out while Cagalli lay sideways on the ground. General Zala also observed this, "This is how the enemy laughs Athrun, she's mocking you right now!" General Zala whispered in Athrun's ears while grinning. Athrun knew that his father was just trying to get him to hate Cagalli and pull the trigger. "You have two minutes to pull that trigger Athrun… starting now." General Zala said looking at his pocket watch while pointing his gun at Athrun. Athrun started panicking, if he shot Cagalli, he would carry the guilt around for the rest of his life, but if he didn't, his father would make sure that Cagalli suffered a very painful and agonizing death while Athrun had to watch. He was in a lose-lose situation.

Major Park and his squad reached zero hour. Major Park hurried the squad, "Sergeant Asuka, Captain Bratkov and Lieutenant Jensen, let's move out slowly and quietly." Major Park whispered hastily while loading his MP40. The three moved in a V-shape advance with Major Park in the middle. Stellar used her sniper rifle to scope in on the two sentry guards who were still playing chess on the balcony of the castle. Kira readied the Freedom's 90mm gun and waited for the signal. Major Park whispered, "Everyone be ready for the worst once we get through that entrance. Moments later, Major Park and his squad reached the front entrance stepping away from the main gate. When everyone was in position, Major Park gave the signal to Corporal Loussier. Corporal Loussier aimed at the first sentry guard making sure she was on her mark, a few seconds later Loussier fired her first shot instantly killing the first sentry.


	14. Chapter 14

After Loussier fired her first shot, all hell broke loose. Lieutenant Yamato fired the Freedom's 90mm gun at the main entrance of the castle completely laying waste to main gate. Afterwards, Loussier's second sniper shot hit its mark on the second sentry, whilst Major Park and the squad all pulled the pins from their grenade and hurled it deep into the castle entrance, screams from the enemy were heard when Major Park and his squad threw their grenades, three guards ran out into the open where Major Park slaughtered them all. Loussier drove the Kubelwagen full of weapons and ammunition down to the castles main entrance. Major Park and his squad stormed the entrance and blasted away at incoming enemies. Loussier salvaged the weapons and ammunition from the dead bodies of the enemy. Seven more weapons were acquired with fourteen grenades.

Moments later, the alarm sounded.

The sound of the explosions and the alarm had alerted General Zala above, "What the hell is going on?" General Zala said in a harsh tone. While General Zala was distracted, Athrun swiftly kicked the gun away from his fathers hand while he cocked back his own gun and pointing it at him. General Zala's face had a mixture of surprise and anger, "So Athrun, do you really have the guts to pull the trigger?" General Zala sternly said. "I'll forgive you for hurting me, but I'll never forgive you for hurting Cagalli." Athrun said in a firm tone. General Zala smiled in reply, "You fool, you don't have the guts to shoot me and you know that, I know you well enough Athrun Zala!" General Zala grinned. As General Zala lifted his hands to take the gun away from Athrun, Athrun pulled the trigger. Athrun was shocked to find that the bullet had missed only by an inch. General Zala gritted his teeth, "Athrun you fool! Now you and that bitch will pay dearly!" General Zala said punching Athrun in the face causing him to fall. General Zala reached for his gun that lay on the ground, but Cagalli kicked General Zala in the face as hard as she could while she was still lying on the ground. "YOU BITCH!" General Zala lunged at Cagalli, he continuously kicked and stomped on Cagalli, she squealed and tried to fend General Zala off, but her efforts were futile. Athrun got up and hit his fathers head with his P-38 in rage. General Zala fell hard on the ground, but quickly recovered a knife from his boot, "I disown you! You are not my son! I have no son!" General Zala screamed as he charged at Athrun. Athrun did naught but stare in terror. Cagalli hastily put her leg out before General Zala could strike, General Zala tripped and fell on his own knife. General Zala let out a scream of agony seeing that his own knife had pierced his chest. Blood poured out as General Zala continued to scream, but eventually, General Zala passed out and died of his wounds. Both Athrun and Cagalli were initially shocked, mostly Cagalli, as they stared in horror as a pool of blood surrounded General Zala's lifeless body.

Only moments later, after the death of General Zala, the cell door swing wide open. Colonel Leopold Steiger was looking at the lifeless body of General Zala whist machinegun rattling and grenade explosions were setting off in the background, also shocked at the sight, he was quick to pull out his gun and load it to point it at Athrun, "You little bastard! General Zala was a great man and you killed him traitor! You killed your own father!" Colonel Steiger hatefully said out loud. Athrun and Cagalli were yet again shocked. "I'm going to help your father finish what he couldn't finish and that is to kill you and that natural trash." Colonel Steiger said angrily cocking his P-38 back and took aim at Athrun. A hail of lead hit Colonel Steiger from behind, in Athrun's opinion an MP40 was used. Colonel Steiger immediately fell dead without a sound. As Athrun picked up Colonel Steiger's weapon, an American airborne trooper entered the cell. He seemed interested in Cagalli, "Miss Athha?" the American paratrooper asked. Cagalli forced herself up, "Y-yes, I'm Miss Athha." Cagalli said nervously unsure of the trooper's intentions.

The airborne trooper smiled. "Jensen! Asuka! Have you freed all the other prisoners?" Major Park asked hastily. "Yes sir, we still haven't found the representative yet sir." Sergeant Asuka said suddenly appearing at the corner. "Don't worry, I found the representative Asuka. Go find the barracks and gather all weapons and ammo with Lieutenant Jensen right now!" Major Park said. Major Park turned to face Athrun and Cagalli, "We must go now Miss Athha." Major Park said quickly. "Captain Bratkov, escort these two back down to the entrance." Major Park ordered. Captain Bratkov swiftly came and hurried Athrun and Cagalli to follow him. Athrun and Cagalli followed Captain Bratkov without question.

Major Park looked at a map on the wall to find the communications room. As soon as Major Park found the communications room, Major Park used the radio and changed the frequency on the radio, Major Park then spoke on the microphone, "Charlie two Delta, Charlie two Delta do you read?" Major Park shouted. The radio started buzzing, "Flash?" Major Park changed the frequency to get a clearer reading. "Thunder," Major Park replied. "Leister?" the radioman asked. "Square." Major Park answered. "Confirmed, what is your status?" the radioman asked, "This is Major J. Park, 101st airborne paratrooper of E. Company, transfer me to General Patton now!" Major Park ordered. "Yes sir, one moment." the radioman said. Moments later, "Major Park, this is General Patton, what's going on there trooper?" General Patton asked. Major Park smiled and explained the entire situation to General Patton for seven minutes. Major Park continued, "We need you to make an offensive and from the front lines to Dortmund sir." a long silence was evident, but only several seconds later, "Major Park you hold on tight, I'll break through and we'll have the ZAFT kissing their own asses goodbye!" General Patton said in a 'son-of-a-bitch' way. "Thank you sir, out." Major Park hung up. Major Park then sprinted down to the main entrance.

Meanwhile Kira had fended off two entire companies of riflemen of the ZAFT army coming from Dortmund to reinforce Colditz. Kira kept pinning them down with 50cal machinegun fire from his tank while using HE (High Explosive) shells to wreak havoc amongst the ZAFT lines. The ZAFT riflemen tried to maneuver around Kira's position, but were once again pinned down by machinegun fire from the 50cal browning machinegun. The ZAFT took hundreds of casualties and the remaining survivors sprinted in full retreat back to Dortmund. Within a few minutes, four outdated Panzer III's were sent, Kira fired his 90mm gun at them and destroyed them with ease, while the Panzer III's 50mm projectiles bounced off harmlessly off Kira's tank. Kira destroyed them with all with ease. As the four tanks were destroyed, no more reinforcements dared to come to the aid of Colditz. Kira was still uneasy about the rescue operation. He wondered if Cagalli was still alive, Kira wanted to be a part of the rescue operation, but he knew that Major Park would take care of everything so therefore had kept discrete.

Lines and lines of Allied prisoners were seen crowding the entrance, desperate to escape Colditz and its cruelty. Major Park was pleased to see that everything was going as planned. His squad has taken no casualties in the entire rescue operation. Shinn, Stellar, Christian and Captain Bratkov were seen distributing weapons and ammo amongst the Allied prisoners into four man squads.

Major Park ran over to the squad, "Well done squad, well done. Keep it up." Major Park praised his squad patting Shinn on the back. Captain Bratkov suddenly interrupted, "Major Park, we don't have enough weapons. We have plenty of ammunition, but short on weapons." Captain Bratkov said desperately. Major Park was quick to act, "Jensen, Asuka, blue hair dude (Athrun) and Miss Athha, come with me." Major Park sprinted to Kira's tank that rested on a hill. The fact finally came to Major Park's head as they reached the tank, "Oh and Miss Athha… that's your brother Kira Yamato in that tank." Major Park said in a polite tone. Cagalli stopped in surprise, Athrun was equally surprised himself. Cagalli jumped onto Kira's tank, Athrun followed in close pursuit. "Kira! Kira!" Cagalli shouted. Kira heard Cagalli and quickly jumped out of his tank to meet her. "Cagalli!" Kira cried as he hugged her. The hug was broken when Athrun's eyes met Kira's. Both had stared at each other blankly. They both had dreamt of meeting each other, now it was reality. "It's been a long time Athrun." Kira smiled. "Yes it has Kira." Athrun smiled back. Major Park interrupted breaking the reunion, "Alright save that for later." Major Park said, he turned to face Kira.  
"We need weapons fast, I bet you killed and wounded a lot of the ZAFT reinforcements while we were in the castle blasting and shooting away." Major Park said aggressively. "Down there, just below this hill, I eliminated at least a hundred." Kira pointed.  
"Good work Lieutenant Yamato." Major Park patted him on the back, "Let's go squad, gather as much as you can carry." Major Park said running with the rest of his squad. Major Park then shouted: "Yamato! Get back to your post now!" Kira suddenly snapped back to his senses and turned around to man his post.

Major Park and his squad were covered with guns, their sprint was halted to a pace as they were buried under the weight of weapons. "This ought to provide the prisoners with enough guns." Major Park smirked reaching the castle. "Alright, everyone help Loussier and Captain Bratkov distribute the weapons and ammo now!" Major Park ordered, "And tell them all what to do." Major Park added. The last of the Allied prisoners were sent away after ten agonizing minutes of non-stop distributing. "Holy damn!" Major Park sighed in relief, "That was harder than I expected." Major Park continued. Everyone else agreed. There were seven weapons left; all of them being the Mauser rifles with almost a crate load of ammunition. The Kubelwagen that the high ranking officer had left would benefit the squad even more. "Let's get outta here and meet up with Yamato." Major Park said, "Captain Bratkov, take that Kubelwagen and follow me, Jensen go with Captain Bratkov." Major Park ordered. Everyone regrouped at the hill where Kira, Athrun and Cagalli were positioned. Major Park tossed the Mauser rifle with a clip bag full of ammunition to Athrun, "You better be an accurate shooter sonny boy." Major Park said to Athrun; Kira and Cagalli laughed in response while Athrun was stood scratching his head. "We have two Kubelwagen's and a tank, Jensen, you will take Mr. Blue hair boy and Miss Athha with you a Kubelwagen and you'll be following me." Major Park said, "I will be driving the other Kubelwagen and will take Asuka, Loussier and Captain Bratkov with me. I will be following Lieutenant Yamato." Major Park said pulling his Colt 45 handgun out with five magazines of ammunition, "Miss Athha, please take this just in case." Major Park said politely. Cagalli took the gun and loaded it. Athrun whispered to Cagalli, "I think you should get thicker clothes because you're almost fully exposed." Cagalli blushed, forgetting that she wasn't fully covered. No one else in the squad realized or took any notice except: Kira and Athrun. Kira was quick to produce a large greatcoat from his tank and gave wrapped it around Cagalli. Major Park continued,

"General Patton is going to make a chase to this area, so let's find a nice and secure forest to hide ourselves in until we encounter his forces." Major Park planned. Kira was quick to question Major Park's predictions. "What makes you so sure that General Patton will get through to us Major Park?" Kira asked. Major Park smirked, "Remember Yamato, we sent those prisoners away with weapons, they're gonna spread out and start wreaking havoc on the ZAFT defenses, like I said before, these prisoners that we released are mostly officers, they'll be both tactical and aggressive. If the ZAFT defenses are being pummeled by small bands of guerilla fighters, General Patton should slice through the lines like hot knife through butter." Major Park explained putting on his nerdy act. Everyone in the squad smiled and agreed with what Major Park had said, his tactics seemed flawless and the executions of his objectives were perfect in every way. The squad knew that if there was a man who would bring them home in one piece, it would unarguably be Major Park. "Let's move out!" Major Park ordered.

The squad had rolled slowly through the enemy countryside under the cover of darkness and thick hedgerows for five hours. Minor skirmishes were heard from a distance, undoubtedly the Allied officers released from Colditz. "Do you mind taking the wheel for a moment Captain Bratkov?" Major Park asked sincerely. "No problem." Captain Bratkov replied. Major Park halted his Kubelwagen while Captain Bratkov switched sides and drove, Major Park ran up to Kira's tank and whispered to him through the hatch opening, "Lieutenant Yamato, do you mind if I be your navigator?" Major Park whispered. "Yeah, sure thing that would be great." Kira replied vaguely. Major Park saw dark circles around Kira's eyes implying that Kira was absolutely exhausted. "Hang in there Lieutenant Yamato, I'll make some coffee for you." Major Park said, pouring coffee mixture in his metal canteen and then placing it on top of the engine canister where a lot of heat is produced. "No thank you Major, if I drink coffee I'll be on a cytosine high." Kira yawned. "What the hell is a cytosine high?" Major Park said looking puzzled, "It's sort of like when people get drunk on coffee." Kira said briefly. It suddenly snapped in Kira's mind, "Sir, how old are you?" Kira asked curiously, "I heard from some that you were seventy and I heard from another group that you were around seventeen." Kira explained scratching his head not caring whether Major Park would smack him or not.

"I'm actually twenty five this year." Major Park said with pride. Kira looked amazed and surprised, "You're a legend, a tactical genius at such a young age." Kira stated with full admiration. Major Park passed took a small sip from the canteen of coffee, "I'm not a hero, the real heroes are the ones that have their names inscribed on crosses and gravestones." Major Park said remembering the pure carnage and bloodshed of previous battles. Major Park remembers everyone that had died under his command. "The real heroes are the ones that jump on grenades to save their comrades, the ones that charge unknowingly at the enemy, the ones who had their names on that unlucky bullet, even the ones who tried getting a sack of potatoes from one place to another." Major Park said reflecting the horrors of his experiences. Kira could say nothing, unlike Major Park and the infantry, Kira was behind a steel tank, he never really experienced the full horrors of seeing someone die or suffer up close. Major Park saw the effects that his personal experiences had on Kira, "Don't worry about it, history has a way of honouring the heroes of all wars. Like my father said, the storm may wash down the flowers, but the flowers will always be there again in time." Major Park smiled.

Meanwhile, Athrun's mind was morbid. The images of his father's death were horrific, even though his father never cared about him as much as Athrun had hoped to. Cagalli saw Athrun's blank eyes that had reflected emptiness. Cagalli immediately knew that it had something to do with his father's death. "I'm sorry Athrun." Cagalli said quietly while Athrun very slowly turned his head to meet Cagalli's sparkling amber eyes. Athrun smiled blankly and closed his eyes, "He never told me of how proud he was of me and he never hugged me, or loved me like any other ordinary father would." Athrun said sadly, "Nothing that I ever did pleased him, nor was it enough to satisfy him." Athrun continued with a quiet rage clenching his fists which were now shaking. Athrun managed to contain his anger and continued, "Ever since my mother died, my father became more radical and more revolutionary. He resorted to torturing prisoners and he made me watch as part of his initiative of becoming a man." Athrun said emotionally while Cagalli listened in horror and shock. "Is that why you moved to Berlin? To heed the call of PLANT'S Chancellor Durandal?" Cagalli asked nervously.

Athrun nodded still having his eyes closed. "I wanted to live a normal life like Kira and his friends: Miriallia, Dearka and Lacus." Athrun listed, "During my time in university, I had a great life, everything was perfect and nothing went wrong, just the occasional arguments between Yzak and Shiho." Athrun smiled gracefully refreshing his memories. Cagalli hung her head recapping her own sad memories, "You know Athrun, my father too died in front of my eyes. He was assassinated almost two years ago. At first we thought it was a communist spy, but we found out that it was ZAFT." Cagalli said in a sad tone, "Even though he died, he was good to me. He loved me enough to tell me even though my mother died when I was four years old." Cagalli continued, "That's still no excuse for a father like yours to dictate your life, he had no right at all. It's not your fault Athrun." Cagalli said sternly, Athrun turned and hugged Cagalli in a light embrace, "Thank you Cagalli." Athrun smiled. Cagalli did nothing but blush. When Athrun pulled off the short hug, he noticed that Cagalli was blushing, "You look cute when you blush. How about a date?" Athrun smirked. Cagalli snorted and give Athrun a glare, "In your dreams Zala!" Cagalli turned her head away from Athrun. _"You truly are an interesting girl Cagalli." _Athrun thought glancing at her with an innocent smile.


	15. Chapter 15

Major Park's newly established mechanized squad had now moved through the ZAFT territory for another two hours. The skies were getting brighter and the motorized squad was getting more exposed. Overlooking a hill only a mile away, the forest was seen, "That's forest is just as dense and just as big as the Saar forest." Major Park stated, "We'll rest in there until General Patton reaches us." Major Park whispered to his exhausted troopers, all were relieved to hear this especially Stellar, Shinn claimed that she needed her 'beauty sleep'. Major Park and Captain Bratkov rolled their eyes while Jensen could stop laughing. Occasional rifle shots were heard followed up by the rattle of machineguns and grenade explosions and minor mortar bombardments in the background. As the squad carefully moved into the forest, they were careful not to mow down any trees to give the enemy a clue as to where they went. Unfortunately, Kira's tank was too big to go around the trees and into the forest, therefore Kira was left no option but to camouflage his tank between two hedgerows in an almost inaccessible place, Kira rolled his tank over a third hedgerow just to get there. Kira's tank was concealed well and to add to the concealment, Kira's tank was already covered with small branches and bits of hedgerow. Kira felt completely satisfied confident that his tank was completely invisible to the naked eye. Kira quickly carried a crate of spam and beans and a five litre bottle of water with him into the forestry.

Major Park was still puzzled and a little interested in Kira's cytosine high. "Say Yamato, what's this psycho-sine high like?" Major Park asked curiously, "It's cytosine high, I guess it's like getting drunk but just on a more violent level." Kira explained, "Athrun will remember the time that I kept slapping my girlfriend Lacus straight after drinking coffee during our time in university." Kira said glancing at Athrun who knew exactly what Kira was talking about. Athrun had also dreaded those moments. Kira once threatened to kill Athrun on his cytosine highs for no particular reason.

Sunrise hit the horizon just as the squad had settled into their environment around them. The troopers were positioned around a large clearing a hundred metres deep into the forest. Major Park intended a defensive stance just incase they were found out. "We have four hours of rest, two hours." Major Park informed, "After your two hours, Asuka, Loussier, Yamato, Captain Bratkov and Jensen; we will be digging an MG bunker in this area just in case the Krauts decide to show up." Major Park pointed. "We'll use that place that MG-34 in the bunker and we'll be taking three hour shifts." Major Park concluded. The troopers were somewhat glad to get four hours of rest, of course, Athrun and Cagalli were exceptions. Major Park obviously thought that Athrun was some sort of a guard for important political members. He was fond of Athrun's blue hair, never had he seen anyone with blue hair. He had usually seen natural hair colour with different coloured eyes, but Athrun was the first. Had Major Park initially found out that Athrun was once a soldier of the ZAFT, he would have left Athrun to rot in Colditz; of course Cagalli would have objected and taken Athrun along anyway. Everyone almost instantly fell asleep on the spot. Stellar was seen sleeping in Shinn's arms, both looked peaceful with smiles on their faces whilst asleep. Shinn's fairly long, messy raven like hair was a key feature that identified him. His icy cold ruby like eyes reflected a painful past, a tragic misfortune.

Shinn never talked about his past, neither did Stellar. Shinn's family died while fleeing a bombarded town, mortar rounds and artillery shells from the ZAFT and the Waffen SS had blown his family into smithereens, his mother, father and his dearest little sister Mayu. Shinn's family died instantaneously while Shinn: who was lagging behind got peppered by shrapnel. Major Park was present at the time serving in the British Expeditionary Force temporarily while defending the port of Calais. He immediately helped Shinn and tended to his wounds. In a rage, Shinn swore to get his revenge and decided to join the army. Since both the British and French armies were decimated, Shinn enlisted into the US Airborne with the assistance of Major Park.

Stellar's parents had also died during the war. Stellar's father was shot, while her mother was played around with by the soldiers, a ZAFT officer had taken her to the top of a two story building and pushed her down. She wasn't killed, but the soldiers started throwing tables, chairs and furniture just for their amusement and their bets, the officer soon found out and shot her through the head. Stellar observed all these. The soldiers then beat Stellar senseless leaving her half conscious body on the streets with the intension of letting her rot rather than giving her a quick death. However, combined British and French riflemen squads made one final raid before retreating; women, children and the wounded were quickly evacuated to nearby ports for immediate evacuation to Britain and then to America. On the HMS Hood, a British heavy cruiser, Shinn and Stellar met for the first time sharing the same cabin. Both remained silent only having dull images of their parents' broken bodies lying around.

Both had been mortally wounded. Shinn had multiple shrapnel wounds around his thigh and rib area causing him immense pain every agonizing second. Stellar had her legs broken, her left arm and a couple of cracked ribs. It was only a month later that both had fully recovered in America. All refugees were circulated almost immediately into the war efforts. The young and old were put into boot and sock factories, the fit were all circulated and trained into the army. Stellar was sent into the women militia unit while Shinn was intensely trained by Sergeant Jensen; later promoted to Lieutenant. All those who were capable joined the US Airborne. Shinn was the most outstanding trooper producing high military records but often had a foul mood. Driven by hatred and revenge, Shinn joined the elite 101st airborne division in the 4th platoon. Major Park had been in temporary charge of training 4th platoon and was impressed by Shinn's performance on the field; even though Shinn had a little trouble getting through the intelligence training. When shipped off to Britain to prepare for war years later, the ship took a severe punishment by the Luftwaffe and half the platoon was wiped out, Shinn, Major Park, Lieutenant Jensen was picked up by another friendly vessel and taken to Dover. In Britain, the platoon was desperate for replacements and found Stellar; she was separated from her women militia unit when she was shipped on another ship. She couldn't return to her outfit as the unit was already months away by sea. The 4th platoon had no choice but to enroll her. She was given the paratrooper field manual and was instantly taught how to set up parachutes and reserve chutes.

The Airborne was considered by the main US Generals to be the best of the best and was given the best of everything. Luxurious rooms were given and they were well catered for, however, the training was even stricter than ever. Major Park made the unit run for twice the distance and made them run twice as fast with limited breaks. The most minor of refractions would mean instant punishment for each and every trooper. Major Park enforced strict discipline into the unit to gain both respect and fear from the troopers under his command; a daring but nevertheless a bold strategy.

Once again, Shinn and Stellar found themselves bunked up in the same room. Both vaguely recognized one another and naturally got along. For a tough trooper like Stellar, her personality was the definite 'helpless princess' type and Shinn found it rather amusing. He would see Stellar act like a ballerina and then during training he would see a more aggressive and schizophrenic maniac on the training field. The men always tooted when Stellar walked by, many tried to flirt with her and grab her attention, but Shinn stood up for her and they started acting like a boyfriend-girlfriend to stop the constant flirting. As soon as this happened, the men stayed well away from Stellar, but Shinn was pushed around a bit more. He didn't really mind, he just blessed his boots over his trousers like a paratrooper. Stellar was immensely thankful for what Shinn did for her. Their relationship developed over time; at one point Shinn couldn't stop thinking about Stellar, he couldn't stop staring at Stellar's magenta eyes. Shinn tried to look like he didn't have feelings for her fearing that Stellar might not return his feelings with enthusiasm. However Stellar also had feelings for Shinn, but also feared the same thing.

Shinn prayed for a sign if Stellar cared for him more than just a comrade. While training in the forest of Lester; an idiotic unit of artillerymen had changed the trajectory a full forty-five degrees into the forest. Shinn was the unlucky victim and was peppered by shrapnel near the chest leaving him in a critical condition. Shinn was immediately moved to a medic station and had immediate operation. The operation was nothing short of miraculous, but had left Shinn in a coma. Stellar was directly shocked at what she had observed. Major Park and Lieutenant Jensen raised all sorts of hell on the artillerymen and had them punished severely and had given them two months of cleaning the toilets and showers of all the airborne divisions in Lester.

Major Park knew then that Stellar had feelings for Shinn. He had given Stellar a week off to from the initial shock to recover. Most of the time, Stellar kept staying with Shinn in the medic station. Two nights later, Shinn awoke to a thankful Stellar. Hugs and kisses were exchanged that night as Shinn was left to recover. Shinn knew that someone above must have been watching over him; perhaps an angel or God himself. Major Park was relieved to hear the news and so was the platoon. Shinn was literally showered with Hershey bars and charm candy from the platoon. From that day onwards he thanked God for the one thing he had left dear to him.

Reflecting back in his memories, Shinn looked at Stellar still sleeping peacefully as the morning light had lightened the forest to reveal Stellar's angelic face. Shinn held Stellar tightly and closed his eyes; he prayed to God to protect the only person he had left to love in the world and wish that they would both make it out of the war alive to start their own lives and live the way that would give them happiness and a long and fruitful life together in peace. Shinn closed his prayer and kissed Stellar lightly on her forehead before finally going to a deep and peaceful sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

"Asuka!" Major Park hissed, "Wake up you fool!" Major Park continued to slap Shinn without any positive results. "I have had it!" Major Park unscrewed his canteen and poured its contents on Shinn's face. Shinn reacted immediately to the cold water that revitalized him so suddenly, "Get up we're moving out." Major Park stated while the thunder of tanks were erupting in the background, "But what about the MG nest Major?" Kira asked, "Stuff it, it's a waste of time." Major Park dismissed, "If I'm right, the sound of the vehicles out there is General Patton's 3rd army." Major Park said with enthusiasm. Everyone didn't seem to believe Major Park, "But Major," Captain Bratkov broke the silence of disbelief, "That means that General Patton would have to have moved at ninety miles overnight." Captain Bratkov shrugged, "I know," Major Park answered, "General Patton has a nag for going nuts on the offensive, one time he race one hundred miles in a day." Major Park said unsurprised; gasps were heard all around, everyone's jaws dropped, "Jeez! He sounds more legendary than you Major." Kira joked, "He's a human dynamo, the greatest son of gun that I will ever know." Major Park said bleakly. "Everyone stay here, let me scout first, if it is our tankers, I'll shout it out." Major Park said strapping his MP40 around and running off amidst the tree lines and to the outskirts.

After a couple of minutes, Major Park shouted: "Ahoy men, start the tanks and vehicles and get outta that forest, it's General Patton." Everyone got into their designated vehicles, starting the engines and rolled out of the forest greeted warmly by two dozens of US tanks with columns of infantry behind them. A jeep zoomed ahead of the pack to greet Major Park and his team. A tall, old and very formally dressed man with a pair of ivory handled pistols saluted Major Park. "Congratulations Major, you just opened a new front for me." The man said while Major Park saluted back and smiled, "General Patton, I should be congratulating you on your success here." Major Park said while General Patton got off his jeep, "It's not successful yet Major, I still got another ten miles to go." General Patton said shaking Major Park's hand and patting him on the shoulder, "Go twenty five miles northwest into the town of Bastogne Major Park, you and your team should be safe there. That's where the rest of your 101st airborne folks are gathered up." General Patton directed, "It should be easy to find Major, it has seven roads leading in, seven roads leading out." General Patton continued, "Well good luck with the last ten miles General." Major Park saluted; General Patton saluted back hopping back into his jeep and resumed the advance. "Captain Yamato." Major Park shouted through the hatch of Kira's tank, "Forty-two degrees north to west, we're heading to Bastogne." Major Park patted the steel tank before jumping into the Kubelwagen, "Full speed ahead!" Major Park screamed.

It took hours to get to Bastogne; the squad was relieved to find no resistance to their advance. Everyone was fatigued due to many hours staying on edge and with constant fighting and advancing. As soon as they got to the heavily forested town of Bastogne, Major Park spotted a château in the heart of the town with the American flag surrounded by sandbags and guarded by several armed MP (Military Police). "Miss Athha please follow me, the rest of you stay where you are." Major Park ordered as Cagalli jumped off and wrapped in a thick woolen blanket, "We better get you dressed up first." Athrun jogged to the nearest clothing store and 'borrowed' a dress without getting seen. "For now this will have to suffice." Athrun tossed the dress, "I hate dresses!" Cagalli snapped, "Would you rather go into headquarters with only your undergarments and covered by that blanket?" Cagalli remained silent, "Go into that store and get dressed now" Athrun ordered, Cagalli snorted in reply and cursed him quietly, "I heard that, stop cursing and start dressing." Athrun grinned.

Major Park was greeted with applauds by the high ranking Generals. The 101st airborne division commander: General Taylor came in to greet the Major and Cagalli. "Major, not only did you destroy the V2 complex as planned, you also liberated the prisoners of Colditz, saved Representative Athha and absolutely the crippled enemy defenses… outstanding!" General Taylor said aloud, "We have seen fit to promote you to Colonel." General Taylor continued, "Colonel?" Colonel Park asked, "But sir, who will lead my platoon on the field?" Colonel Park looked puzzled, "Lieutenant Jensen." General Taylor said, "Jensen would have been my choice sir." Colonel Park agreed, "Good, we have decided to promote Lieutenant Jensen to Captain, Sergeant Asuka to Lieutenant and Corporal Loussier will remain in her current rank." General Taylor gave Colonel Park ranking badges to give to his men, "As for that Russian soldier, he'll have to stay under your command as with that other folk with the blue hair." General Taylor peered through the curtains to stare at Athrun, "Is he wearing a ZAFT uniform?" General Taylor raised his voice in surprise. Cagalli tried to explain, "No, he's…"Colonel Park interfered, "Collecting souvenirs for his folks back at home." Cagalli saw this as a smart answer, "Huh, souvenirs. The best souvenirs would be ZAFT pistols and cigarettes, but I guess this is fine as well. Just tell him to get into uniform." General Taylor dismissed, "Yes sir." Colonel Park saluted as General Taylor saluted back.

Colonel Park was given orders with what to do with Cagalli. "Miss Athha will have to stay in Bastogne for a while; for at least forty-eight hours. Enemy snipers and scouts are all over this area giving us all sorts of hell. So just let our patrols take care of them and I'll give you the signal when it's safe to move Miss Athha." General Taylor explained while taking short puffs from his cigar, "So what will my squad now be doing sir?" Colonel Park questioned, "You will protect Miss Athha. Her survival is your primary objective now. You and your squad will be staying in another château a couple of blocks away. It shouldn't be difficult to find. Just basically two days of resting up babysitting Miss Athha. The Chateau has hot showers and many luxurious rooms, MP will show you where. Just get new weapons and fill up on ammunition." General Taylor stood pointing out of the window at a lone MP. Colonel Park saluted and went on his way back to his squad.

As soon as weapons and ammunitions were distributed amongst the squad, Captain Bratkov and Athrun were given the US army paratrooper uniforms. Cagalli peered at the new uniforms that Athrun wore, "Well don't we look snazzy Mr. Zala." Cagalli teased, "Did you just ask me out on a date?" Athrun shot back with a smirk, "In your dreams Zala." Cagalli snorted. Kira gave a slight frown of resentment towards Athrun in his crude attempt to seduce his sister right in front of him. Kira give Athrun a warning glare. Athrun then looked away from Kira and decided to see what Kira's reaction would be if he did something outrageous. Athrun then moved closer to Cagalli giving her a quick peck on her cheek, Cagalli's face turned crimson red, "You know, you look cute when you blush like that." Athrun smirked and quickly eyed Kira for a split second. Kira was in complete shock and confusion, "Athrun could I see you for one moment in my tank?" Kira twitched and balled his fists trying to smile with failure. As the two got into the tank, Kira shut the hatch and closed all vents to suppress any noise. As soon as Kira got out, Athrun was coughing and gasping for air, "What the hell did you do Kira?" Cagalli said with an enraged tone, "It was nothing, I just tied a rope around his throat and started pulling as hard as I could." Kira said casually, "You're such a good friend aren't you." Cagalli said sarcastically while tending to Athrun half hanging from the tank hatch.

Angered by Kira, Cagalli decided to get payback; she always hated the fact that Kira always tried to run her life. "Are you hurt Athrun?" Cagalli asked politely, "A little bit." Athrun replied quietly still gasping and breathing heavily, Cagalli saw the rope burns around his neck, "Oh you poor thing." Cagalli came closer kissing his neck, "Is that better?" Cagalli asked, "…" Athrun was initially shocked, but after a moment, he knew what Cagalli was planning, "I'm hurting here as well." Athrun pointed to his temples. Cagalli moved to give a slight kiss to his temple area, "And here," he pointed to his nose, once again, Cagalli kissed without any worries, "and here…" Athrun blushed pointing to his lips. Kira grabbed a handful of his hair while he was biting down on his other hand. Cagalli hesitated for a while before realizing what she had gotten herself into, she moved closer, her heart fluttered and her face once again blushed, Athrun was sweating slightly. Their lips were an inch away… "EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" the air raid siren erupted interrupting their brief moment.

Many packs of bombers were seen above in the skies, machine-guns were firing at the bombers. 30cal and 50cal machine-guns were ineffective against the bombers at their current altitude, but the gunners continued to fire anyway. The squad rushed inside the nearest building, everyone hid in a small basement while the bombs around were exploding all around them. Captain Bratkov and Captain Jensen were absent from the group. After minutes of intense bombing, everyone came out of the basement to see what damage had been done. Many buildings were in smoldering ruins, many wounded men were lying in the welter of their gore. Kira's tank was a pile of scrap metal. The division HQ was completely destroyed, Colonel Park ran around looking for any of the Generals and any sign of Captain Bratkov and Captain Jensen; Colonel Park was informed later that all Generals had been killed along with both Captains Bratkov and Jensen; a severe blow. In total, fifty troopers and civilians were counted to be dead with at least one hundred wounded. A local church with large tunnel networks was turned into a medical station for the wounded. As this was all happening, white specks from the sky started falling, "Look Shinn, it's snow." Stellar pointed out. Snow started falling showing the start of winter.

Since all the Generals were dead, Colonel Park assumed command of the entire 101st airborne division. The 101st airborne division comprised of Easy, Fox, Dog and Able companies were stationed in Bastogne. The ZAFT divisions were suddenly on the offensive as they counterattacked and caught the allied advance completely off guard. This was a last ditched and desperate offensive. Due to Bastogne's strategic road networks; seven roads leading in, seven roads leading out; if the ZAFT army could capture the town, the allied attacks would grind to a halt and therefore, the allies would be in a lesser position of political power in the demand for unconditional surrender of the ZAFT and SS. Colonel Park knew this and had no such plans to let Bastogne go into enemy hands. The 101st were surrounded by all sides; north, east, south and west. They had limited supplies of K-rations and little ammunition, hardly any winter clothing was prepared in advance. Approximately five-hundred airborne units starving with little ammunition and winter clothing were outnumbered and outgunned by thousands of well trained ZAFT troopers; all armed to the teeth.

The cold winter weather was also a problem for the airborne. They couldn't get in air support until the weather improved; supplies had to be scrounged and saved. The bombing raids previous had destroyed a major supply dump in the town: therefore fifty percent of all supplies were lost. Medical supplies were badly needed, ammunition was distributed amongst the troops as equally as possible and as was the K-rations and some even devised to rip down the curtains of every house to provide some warmth during the winter campaign. Radios were useless in winter weather; therefore Colonel Park had to take action. Colonel Park gathered all field commanders to give them objectives and orders.

In the briefing the Colonel planned: "Easy Company will be defending the eastern flank, Dog-Company will defend the north, Fox-Company has the south and Able will hold off the western approach. Get out as far as you can until you see the enemy, once you've spotted them, dig foxholes and separate yourselves as equally as you can to link up with other Companies to create a defensive ring. Each company will be armed with two 50cal machine-guns, four 30cal machine-guns and four M6 bazookas. Each Company will have equal numbers of medics. For those who are wounded, jeeps will be running around when you need them at your call to take the wounded back to the medical station. Also, do not carry out extensive raids or patrols; we want to spare every man we can get. If you have time, get some men to dig secondary foxholes twenty-five yards behind your primary ones, if you're overrun, you can always fall back to the backup foxholes for cover. If you have time, I advise you to cover your foxholes with branches or canvas, I think this is gonna be one damn cold winter. We have thirteen jeeps all armed with 50cal machine-guns with adequate fuel for at most two weeks, to add to the firepower of our lines, take another two 50cal machine-gun for each Company. Any prisoners you find: take whatever they have and use it for our own use; they'll most likely have a couple of medical supplies and a little bit of food with them and bring them to HQ. Take any supplies and clothing from the dead. That is all; good luck and let us beseech the blessings of the almighty God."


	17. Chapter 17

An assisting Lieutenant from another Company was assigned to take command of 4th platoon. Since Kira was only a tanker, his position of Captain was of no importance to the unit, therefore Kira was to be treated like a Private but was given the respect of a Captain. Athrun was assigned by the Colonel to protect Cagalli in an abandoned bakery with a very secure cellar with a secondary escape route. To Kira's surprise, the new commander was none other than Yzak Joule. A friend of Athrun and Kira, the medico assigned to 4th platoon was Corporal Dearka Elsman while a nurse who was hastily forced into the platoon due to the shortage of medics was Dearka's 'friend', Miriallia Haww. Kira was overjoyed to see his friends again after years of fighting. Shinn and Stellar were now treated like replacements in their own unit. Six others were assigned as well to make the numbers in the 4th platoon.

As soon as everyone was grouped, Yzak ordered the small platoon to make a patrol out to spot the enemy. The weather conditions were worsening as snow continued to fall in greater masses. Visibility was also limiting them to take extreme caution. The medics and two others were ordered to stay behind. Moments later gunfire erupted, Yzak and the rest were seen sprinting back, "We found the bastards!" Yzak erupted, "Everyone dig foxholes on the top of that hill to gain the heights," Yzak pointed behind him, "Have them at least eight yards apart, medics will dig ten yards behind the centre foxhole." Yzak said getting his spade and started digging on the hard, cold ground in the heavily forested area. The platoon had finished their foxholes within an hour. The Dearka and Miriallia had decided to share a foxhole and had made it twice as large and much more spacious. Yzak came around to inspect everyone's foxholes, "What the hell is this?" Yzak yelled, "Two medics in a foxhole, what the hell happens if enemy artillery takes both of you out?" Yzak yelled, "Ok if you want to share foxholes, make a half-trench or something." Yzak continued going around, "The same applies to you two." Yzak pointed at Shinn and Stellar who had also decided on sharing a foxhole. "No wait. Change of plans." Yzak said, "Now let's link all of our foxholes up into a single trench, I want this trench long, deep and wide." Yzak said while digging. Moans were heard from the entire platoon.

Hours of digging in the cold had taken its toll on the platoon. The forest started getting dark and no supplies had arrived so the troops were exhausted as well as starving. Kira was greatly disturbed by the fact that Athrun was to look after Cagalli, but he'd rather have his best friend have his sister rather than anyone else. A roar came from behind the platoon, a jeep skidded next to the medic trench and the driver jumped out, "Hallelujah our supplies are finally here." Yzak said out loud, "Shut up! You'll alert the enemy you fool!" the driver whispered, "Shut up! I'm the commanding officer in this platoon so I can do whatever and you can't do anything!" Yzak said even louder, "Ok just take your supplies quickly and I'll be outta here faster than Jerry Crockney, I'm warning you sir, you keep yelling like that, you're just painting yourself a bull's-eye for ZAFT artillery to blow you all into smithereens." The driver whispered, quickly dumping the supplies on the ground before shooting off accelerating at full speed. The supplies were efficiently and equally distributed. An M6 Bazooka with nine rounds, a 30cal light machinegun with limited belts of ammunition, half a dozen of blankets, packets of cigarettes, a whole crate of grenades and ammunition, twelve tins of K-rations and very little morphine and bandages were shared.

Minutes later trees around started exploding, enemy shells were landing and exploding everywhere. Everyone stayed down in their trench as low as possible to keep their heads down. Trees were falling, splinters were flying all around and the ground was shaking from the impact of the falling shells. After a minute of intense bombardment, a brief silence was hung before Yzak screamed: "Watch the line!" many of the platoon had already lost respect for Yzak whose loud mouth had almost blown them off the face of the earth. Luckily no one was killed or wounded, but a tree that had been blown up by artillery came close to decapitating Shinn.

The platoon waited for an hour for a ZAFT attack, but none came. Yzak was desperate to kill some ZAFT soldiers for what they did, but he was given orders to hold his position. Dearka and Milliaria had covered their small trench with trees fitting across their trench, Dearka joked around while doing it imitating an officer with in a perfect tone, "Does a bear crap in the woods son?" Dearka imitated while the whole platoon laughed out loud; except Yzak, "Shut up Dearka! You're gonna alert their artillery men you idiot." Yzak harshly whispered, "Calm down dude," Dearka said casually, "What's the point? Our positions have already been given away because of you." Dearka smirked, "Shut up Dearka!" Yzak angrily said, "Chill dude, it's only your fault." Dearka continued while smiling, "That's it, I'm gonna…" before Yzak could finish, mortar rounds started falling around them sending shrapnel around while the platoon dived into their trenches and foxholes. Dearka had never experienced anything like it before; Miriallia was blocking off her ears and closed her eyes hoping that a round wouldn't hit her.

The bombardment had ended, small craters made by the mortars were made. A GI was calling for a medic, "Medic! Medic!" Dearka immediately came to his aid. His leg was showered with splinters from the one of the trees that exploded from artillery rounds; his legs were covered in blood and the splinters had to be removed right away, "Miriallia get over here!" Dearka yelled, Miriallia was still shocked from the bombardments, "Miriallia!" Dearka continued yelling, "Someone get that girl outta that trench!" Yzak yelled; Kira wasted no time, he grabbed the shaking Milliaria and hauled her out of the trench and forced her to attend the wounded man, "Let's get him out of the front line." Dearka yelled pulling him away with Miriallia following. The splinters were removed and a packet of disinfectant was applied to his bloody leg. Dearka pulled out a shot of morphine, but the wounded man insisted that he saves it, "No doc, save the morphine I'm not that hurt." he said, a patrolling jeep was stopped and the wounded man was placed on the bonnet. Yzak interrupted, "Hold it driver." Yzak pointed at Miriallia, "Get on that jeep and stay in town woman, you're as useless on the field as you are a medic!" Yzak shouted, "Zip it coolly!" Miriallia shot back, "You're the one who got us in this situation!" Miriallia kept going, "Dearka, get on that jeep with her, make sure she temporarily stays in town until she gets her act together, but come back straight after she's found a place to stay." Yzak ordered. Kira couldn't help but to overhear the conversation and be a part of it, "I'll go Lieutenant; I know a place where she can stay." Kira said, "I'll also bring in another replacement." Kira bribed; Yzak hesitated, but Kira kept insisting, "Dearka needs to stay on the line just incase of another bombardment." Kira smartly answered, "Alright, be quick, and while you're at it, get some spare supplies and some freaking blankets if you can, it's getting so damn cold." Yzak said before turning around to run back to the front lines, Dearka quickly gave Miriallia a quick wink and a flirtatious look before following Yzak back.

Kira wanted to get out of the lines because he was didn't trust Athrun being Cagalli's personal bodyguard. Dirty pictures of what his best friend was doing to his sister were flicking through his mind; he was unable to let them be alone without him watching over them. In fact, Kira had insane thoughts about Athrun bayoneting Cagalli to death, sucking her blood, beating her to death, torturing her to death and even raping her to death. Realistically he worried about them making out behind his back. Meanwhile, Athrun's emerald green eyes were stalking the outlines of Cagalli. He couldn't help but to stare at her with desire, "What's wrong?" Cagalli nervously asked noticing Athrun staring at her, "Uh…nothing, just tired that's all." Athrun replied dumbly, "Well get some sleep if you have to, bed's downstairs to the left." Cagalli pointed. Athrun got to bed quickly trying to shake off the thoughts of Cagalli in his mind. But soon, Cagalli soon found out that there was only one bed in the entire building.

"Get off Zala!" she ordered, "What's wrong now?" Athrun asked, "That's the only bed in the house." Cagalli darkly replied, "Now get off!" Cagalli ordered, Athrun took this moment to seize the opportunity, "Why don't you make me dear?" Athrun smirked; Cagalli blushed and balled her fists, "I'm warning you Zala get off!" Cagalli kicked the bed in frustration, "No need to get physical dear, I thought you were diplomatic, so here's a peaceful term; why don't we share the bed?" Athrun smirked yet again, "Never!" Cagalli blushed to a bright red; intrigued by her interesting behavior Athrun continued to have his fun, "Okay, I'll get off if you admit to me right now that you like me." Athrun continued smirking, "In your dreams Zala." Cagalli said folding her arms, "Give me just one kiss on the lips and I'll move." Athrun continued with his terms, "No way pervert." Cagalli denied all terms. "I guess I'll have to resort to violence then." Athrun grabbed Cagalli, pulling her onto the bed pinning her arms down bringing all his weight down, "Let go Zala!" Cagalli struggled trying to get free, but her efforts were in vain, "Just admit it Cagalli, there's no one else here to hear you confess." Athrun ensured. Athrun stared into Cagalli's amber eyes, after a moment of silence Cagalli exhaled, "Alright fine. I admit that I… like you a bit Zala." Athrun was less than optimistic, "A bit?" Athrun asked, "Okay, I like you a lot Athrun." Cagalli sighed. Athrun drew himself closer to Cagalli, "What are you doing Athrun?" Cagalli moved her head from side to side trying to avoid Athrun. Athrun place his lips on her neck giving her light butterfly kisses, electricity pulsed throughout her entire body; she moaned with pleasure unable to remain silent. Athrun then kissed her soft, tender lips; both felt the heat of passion take over their minds that were now morbid in the heat of their own battle.

Both Athrun and Cagalli were unaware that Kira had already entered the baker's house and was standing at the doorway watching Athrun and Cagalli; Kira's worst fears were realized. But Kira was standing on the doorway with a grin on his face, "Having fun?" Kira said loudly, Athrun and Cagalli jumped in fear, Athrun's eyes reflected complete shock as his emerald eyes widened in fear, "oh my holy god, Kira!", "Relax Athrun, I'm not here to kill you." Kira smiled, "S-so you're cool with all this?" Athrun asked nervously, "Oh yeah sure, I've only just realized that I'd trust you with my sister more than any other guy out there." Athrun and Cagalli sighed with relief. "Why are you here Kira?" Cagalli snapped, "Well Athrun's been ordered to fight in the front lines." Kira stated, "By whom?" Athrun curiously asked, "By Colonel Park." Kira lied. Cagalli gave Athrun a worried look, but Athrun returned the reply with a wink, "I'll be fine Cagalli." Athrun said before kissing Cagalli ever so softly on her cheek before getting up to leave, "And one more thing," Kira said, "You have a new roommate." Kira signaled Miriallia to come in. "Oh my gosh! Cagalli is that you?" Miriallia screamed with joy, "Miri!" Cagalli screamed back getting up to hug her. Kira was a little dumbfounded, "How do you know each other?" Kira asked, "Stupid brother, we were best friends back in the state high school of ORB years ago." Cagalli said, "Okay, we better go Athrun." Kira said leaving with Athrun following suit, "Don't worry Cagalli, I'll be back." Athrun smiled before leaving.

Athrun and Kira had only acquired two morphine shots, three small rolls of bandages and five blankets. No K-rations or ammunition were spared. On the way back to the front, Athrun and Kira stumbled upon Colonel Park, whom was setting up a fire beside his jeep with twigs and small dried up branches in a pit, "Captain Yamato, how's 4th platoon going?" the Colonel said sipping his hot coffee exposed in the freezing cold weather, "The men are fine sir." Kira lied; the Colonel immediately knew something was wrong with the way that Kira responded, "Stop lying, what's wrong?" the Colonel asked, "Are the men all treating you like a replacement?" sipping some more coffee, steaming from his canteen, "No sir, I have faith in the men… I… I just don't have faith in the commanding officer." Kira replied nervously. The Colonel brought out a packet of cigarettes and offered some to Kira and Athrun; Athrun refused, but Kira took one, "Give the commander another chance, I'm sure he'll make some good decisions in the end." the Colonel lit his cigarette and took large puffs from his cigarette and exhaling heavily leaving a trail of smoke. Athrun and Kira saluted and resumed their march to the front each with a small crate of supplies.

"Who's the new commander?" Athrun asked with curiosity, "None other than Yzak Joule himself." Kira took out a lighter lighting his cigarette, "You mean the guy with the ticking time bomb of a temper?" Athrun sniggered, "That's the one." Kira whistled at a jeep driver, "Driver, can you take us to the front where E-Company is?" Kira shouted, "Yeah sure get in." the jeep driver shouted from a distance. Kira stopped for a moment: "One more thing Athrun… No don't do 'it' with Cagalli before you're married, you're only limited to hugs and kisses. So if I find out that Cagalli's pregnant before marriage, I'll kill you." Kira winked, "Yeah, thanks for the tip." Athrun smiled sarcastically. Suddenly, loud roars could be heard from the darkening skies above snowing lightly, "Oh my god, not another air raid!" Kira gasped. Dozens of bombers in formation could be seen in the skies above looking down upon the town of Bastogne.


	18. Chapter 18

The formations of bombers kept descending towards Bastogne, the air sirens went off and bursts of .50cal machineguns rattled within around the outskirts of the town. The enemy bomber formations swept down preparing to drop their payload of high explosive bombs. "Oh god no! Cagalli!" Athrun yelled as he dropped his crate of supplies and ran for the town, "No wait Athrun!" Kira chased after him holding him back, "Let go Kira!" Athrun struggled, "Listen to me Athrun, she'll be fine, she's safe in that cellar. You have to rationalize under these circumstances. You go in there now and you have a good chance of getting killed." Kira said calmly. Athrun calmed down enough to slowly come back to his senses. Meanwhile, the screaming sounds of the plunging bombs changed to a series of loud explosions. Athrun and Kira could do nothing but watch the carnage helplessly as all bombs were dropped to their targets. Athrun and Kira sprinted towards the battered town only to be stopped by the Colonel half way across. The Colonel ordered Athrun and Kira to: "Get back to the front lines!" As much as they both hated it, orders were orders.

As soon as Athrun and Kira got to the front lines, they saw that the battlefield was littered with enemy dead and wounded. A gunfight had erupted almost immediately after the bombings. Luckily, no one from 4th platoon was killed or wounded, but Yzak wanted more bloodshed and immediately ordered everyone on a daring patrol into enemy lines. "What the hell are you doing Yzak?" Kira erupted, "We'll catch the enemy by surprise and they'll never see us coming." Yzak backed up. Athrun knew that the patrol was bound to fail. Athrun read a report before he committed treason that two whole divisions of the Elite Storm Troopers from the Russian front was to be deployed to the west. These Storm Troopers were extremely well equipped and as well trained and prepared as the US Paratroopers. Athrun knew that the attack previous was just a calm before a great storm. Everyone did all that they could to persuade Yzak to have second thoughts about the patrol, but as stubborn as he was, he wouldn't listen; "I'm the commanding officer here and everyone will follow my orders!" Yzak screamed at the men, "Your orders are to stay defending this area, we were specifically told not to go around on patrols." Kira yelled back, "Who made you the commanding officer?" Yzak pointed his weapon at Kira; however Athrun, Shinn and the Colonel immediately raised their weapons at Yzak's head. Wait, the Colonel?

"What the hell were you think Lieutenant?" the Colonel yelled while Yzak could only stand in complete silence swallowing every word that the Colonel threw at Yzak while the rest of the platoon had their chow in their foxholes in the freezing cold. "Captain Yamato front and centre." the Colonel shouted. Kira quickly swallowed his spoonful of beans and spam and immediately jogged off to the Colonel. "You're in charge of this platoon now Captain, I trust that you'll do a thorough job of leading these troopers." the Colonel said taking a cigar out and lighting it with his Zippo lighter, "I'll do my best sir." Kira simply replied, "That's good enough." the Colonel took a huge puff from his cigar initially coughing some smoke out. "As for you Lieutenant," Colonel Park pointed at Yzak, "You will be spending all night on sentry duty for three days for the men of this platoon. I don't care if you're sick, wounded and dying; you're going to make up for that little stunt you pulled before. Now get out of my sight!" the Colonel harshly said. Yzak seemed like he wanted to cry, his expression had been a priceless moment for the platoon who wanted nothing more than to piss in his morning coffee.

Colonel Park had a brief meeting with the 4th platoon, "Now there's only four more days 'til Christmas. Now I know that many of you would rather be sitting at home in front of a warm fireplace and dozing off on your couch, it's so unfortunate of us to be trapped in this freezing hellhole, but I have some good news. General Patton and his 3rd US mechanized army has decided to relieve us. So all I can say is hang tough and God bless airborne." the Colonel saluted, "God bless sir." the 4th platoon shouted instantaneously, "It seems that I'm the only Christian here, am I correct?" the Colonel asked, "No I'm one sir." Shinn shouted out, "Just to let you know, reverends will be coming around each platoon and giving twenty minute church services every Sunday around nine to eleven in the morning." with that, the Colonel left as fast as lightning. All of a sudden, the Colonel also came back as fast as lightning, "And what is that guy doing here?" the Colonel pointed at Athrun, "I though you were meant to be protecting the representative." Kira jumped, "You ordered me into this platoon sir, Kira told me that you were all short handed." Athrun stated.

"Captain Yamato, it is true that we are short handed, but the representative needs a body guard. There are snipers and spies crawling all over this area, the representative is in huge danger if the enemy is to find out!" the Colonel scolded Kira, "So she has survived the bombing?" Athrun curiously asked, "She's in the safest place in the town; that cellar is 100 guaranteed to be bomb-proof." the Colonel assured, "Now you get back to town and protect the representative at all costs," Colonel ordered, "And find another medic to support this platoon.." Colonel said before continuing inspection. "Kira, you're such a bastard." Athrun said casually, "There's nothing you can do to stop me now Kira." Athrun said giving Kira his M1 Garand and all of his ammunition and his small medic kit, "Yeah well I'm counting on you to look after her Athrun, you hear?" Kira put on a rather worried expression, "Don't worry, I'm not the kind of guy to stab your back." Athrun grinned, "Yeah right pimp." Kira rolled his eyes. With that, Athrun began his long march off to the town centre armed with a colt .45 automatic pistol.

The weather had turned colder and colder each night. The Bastogne area was covered in snow. The snow white battlefield was a freezing hellhole. The natural soldiers were finding it difficult to cope in the weather without adequate winter clothing; even their genetically advanced brothers in arms were finding life difficult the freezing foxholes in the front lines. That night, flares were set off to spot night advances made by the enemy. Yzak was watching the lines like a watchdog on a short leash. Several attempts were made by the enemy scouts to sneak past their line of defenses, but Yzak quickly mowed them down with a .30cal machinegun pouring out all his anger out on them. Shinn had been given the task of scouring all dead bodies to obtain whatever supplies they could. Stellar was preparing hot spam and beans for Shinn and herself, cooking with a small gas stove using her helmet as a saucepan. Rations were restricted as the supplies generally came in dangerously low amounts. The troopers were shivering with delirious cold as a result. Hot coffee and water was consumed to help cope with the cold. The weather was so cold that many non-smokers were forced into smoking; Stellar had to smoke to help counteract the biting cold.

Athrun had finally made it to the town. Bastogne was a ruined hulk of rubble. The dead bodies were gathered up and burned; the stench of death was all around as Athrun walked down the once clean streets of Bastogne. To Athrun's great relief, the baker's house hadn't been touched. Cagalli leaped onto Athrun hugging him and relieved that he had been untouched; Athrun thought the same. Miriallia, who was nearby had envied Athrun and Cagalli. She wished that Dearka would treat her more seriously, but she knew that she couldn't change Dearka's humourous nature; after all his humour was what defined Dearka, but the war had influenced his humour, he was more serious.

All of a sudden, Cagalli slapped Athrun, "Ow, what was that for?" Athrun asked angrily rubbing his cheek, "That was for not getting here earlier." Cagalli snapped, "I can make up for that you know." Athrun said giving Cagalli a long and passionate kiss. "Maybe I should leave." Miriallia said heading for the door, Athrun reluctantly broke from the kiss: "Wait, you have to go back to the front." Athrun said before Miriallia could leave, "What?" Cagalli and Miriallia both exclaimed, "Dearka needs help, the 4th platoon is desperate for medics." Athrun briefed, "Oh and find as many blankets as you can; the troopers are freezing their tails off." Athrun said. Miriallia arrived at the front by a ride from a patrolling jeep. Miriallia was literally welcomed by Dearka with open arms. Miriallia brought half a dozen of blankets and a dozen tins of meat and vegetable stew including her own small medic kit. "You're a legend Miri!" Dearka exclaimed. Kira was fast asleep, sleeping like a baby through the rough conditions while everyone else was shaking in their boots.

"I don't know how he does that." Shinn said shivering, "Who?" Stellar asked, "Captain Yamato, he just lies down and bam, he's knocked out and already dreaming." Shinn replied. Shinn cast aside all his anger and his lust for revenge. All that he wanted now was for the war to end as quickly as possible and live a long, fruitful and happy life with Stellar in peace; without pain, without the suffering, cruelty and hardships that war inflicts on ordinary people. He was thankful to have Colonel Park help him and Stellar survive the war for years. Shinn clutched his wooden cross and prayed to God. Although many would think that God was dead in these circumstances, Shinn kept his faith knowing that there was someone up there looking after him.


	19. Author note

Sorry, this is not a chapter update

Sorry, this is not a chapter update. I would like to make a few things clear. It has come to my attention that there is a major confusion in the politics and the plot of this story.

Firstly; the Plants and the Nazi regime are the same ideals, just in different chancelleries and dominance.

Secondly; the Plants are a union of the Axis powers mentioned in chapter 1: countries with common ideals for a perfect world, i.e. Extinction of the naturals. So Nazism in this story is just the Plants idealism in one major nation.

Thirdly, I know that I described this as an Athrun/Cagalli character based stories and many viewers have found that this story revolves around other characters, but since the site only allows me to put in a maximum of two characters, that's the two characters that I put in as my majors.

Last but not least; If you have any queries or any complaints about the story in anyway, please do comment or review, I will do my best to improve.

Anyway, that's about that. Enjoy the story! :)


	20. Chapter 19

Days of staying in their foxholes had taken its toll on the 4th platoon

Days of staying in their foxholes had taken its toll on the 4th platoon. Trench foot and foot rot had greatly influenced the troopers. The troopers were also subject to regular artillery and mortar bombardments, followed up by brutal assaults by the enemy with tanks and armoured vehicles. All of the airborne companies were losing manpower. They were holding their ground, but the dead and wounded just kept piling up. Soon, there weren't enough men to cover the front; so therefore, the Colonel ordered a retreat to the secondary line of defense, this way, there would be less of an area to cover resulting in greater firepower within the lines. However, there were some enemy raiding parties that were breaking through because the lines were too thinly spread out and could not cover the whole front. However, the weather cleared up and radio contact was made with the leading allied Commanders. Supplies and more reinforcements were promised, but the Colonel knew this was just a lie to encourage him to fight harder. The airborne was a tough nut to crack, but it was only a matter of time before the defenses would collapse under constant attacks.

Raids by the enemy broke through into the town centre in an attempt by the ZAFT to take out the commander leading the airborne in Bastogne. The Colonel himself was engaged in dozens of firefights with the enemy raiders. The Military Police (MP) were in charge of the town's defenses against these raiders. But there were just too much area to cover and defend for the MP. The armed jeep patrols took shifts to carry the wounded back and to search and destroy the enemy soldiers that broke through. To make matters worse, fuel was starting to run dry and jeep patrols had to be restricted.

Athrun and Cagalli were on edge every time they heard gunfire around them. They spent days living with constant gunfire and occasional mortar bombardment. Athrun would sometimes only have an hour to sleep at times due to constant raids by the enemy. They didn't have to engage in a single shootout with the enemy over the course of ten days. All this changed on the eleventh day early the next morning.

Both Athrun and Cagalli awoke, alerted by shootings very close to them. As Athrun bolted to the window and cautiously peered out, he saw two MP's drop dead with bullets ricochet off of the brick buildings around them. At least a dozen of enemy troops were seen dashing around and breaking into buildings and killing anyone in sight, even the civilians. The enemy soldiers were getting closer to the building that Athrun and Cagalli were in. Athrun pulled out his colt .45 automatic while Cagalli quickly packed in a few grenades and loaded her own colt .45, "No Cagalli, just stay here. It's too dangerous." Athrun said, "Just because I'm a princess, it doesn't mean that I'm helpless and weak." Cagalli snapped, "I didn't mean it like that!" Athrun hissed, "Look Cagalli just stay here, I'll handle this… somehow." Athrun said taking one grenade from Cagalli, "No way Athrun. Don't you see? If you die… then I would rather die with you together side by side." Cagalli softly said. Athrun was surprised and flinched a little at Cagalli's last statement. "Alright Cagalli, just stay behind me no matter what." Athrun said as Cagalli nodded rather quickly in reply with a half-smile.

Athrun and Cagalli quickly ran towards the back entrance of the building to try and sneak around the incoming enemy soldiers. One soldier spotted them and yelled to his other fellow soldiers while inaccurately shooting at them. Athrun opened up with his pistol and gutted a few rounds of pure lead into the soldier, dropping him dead almost immediately. Two more enemy soldiers appeared, Athrun continued to open up accurate rounds, hitting the enemy dead centre each time. Another soldier burst through the entrance, but Athrun was out of bullets and needed to reload: thus, Cagalli covered him and burst open with her own handgun, critically wounding an enemy soldier. Athrun was impressed not to say the least. Usually, he would see the normal princess as defenseless and physically weak, but Cagalli was different.

"Is this what you call a negotiation?" Athrun joked, "No, we call it an aggressive solution." Cagalli smartly replied. Athrun smiled at the remark, "We're not done yet," Athrun said peeking around the corner of the city streets for more ZAFT red soldiers; a dozen were seen jogging up cautiously. Athrun pulled the pin on a grenade, Cagalli did the same and both of them hurled their grenades at the dozen of enemy soldiers. In reply the soldiers dispersed while one soldier foolishly dived onto the grenades, the grenades' thunderous impact of the explosions left the soldier in pieces.

Athrun dived under cover behind a small food stall while the enemy bullets missed him by inches. Cagalli threw another grenade at the group of soldiers and sprinted towards Athrun's position. A loud explosion from the grenade was deafening and fragments could be heard whizzing around. The small, but deadly band of enemy soldiers erupted gunfire on Athrun and Cagalli's position. The shootout continued for ten minutes. Two bullets ricocheted off a saucepan behind and hit Athrun in the back of his left shoulder both times; Athrun gritted his teeth to bear with the pain of his wounds. Athrun felt as if red hot razor wire were lodged in his shoulder. Athrun let out a muffled scream as blood stained his jacket. Cagalli's amber eyes widened in disbelief as she saw Athrun lying on the ground in pain as bullets continued to ping and whiz about all over their position. "Athrun!" Cagalli screamed seeing the person most dear to her in pain, "I'm alright Cagalli…" Athrun said slowly and in pain, "I'm just being… a … softie." Athrun popped up and started shooting at the enemy hitting and wounding one soldier in the process.

An enemy bullet hit its mark on Athrun's left bicep, Athrun feel to the ground once again. Blood trickled from his left arm. "No!" Cagalli bent down next to Athrun holding him next to her trying to comfort Athrun, who was clearly in excruciating pain. The bullets kept pounding around them as they wondered if this was the end. Suddenly, a loud rattle from behind erupted. As Cagalli popped her head up to see what it was, she saw the best sight she had seen in a while; a US patrol jeep mounted with a .50cal machinegun along with three MP troopers and the Colonel had come to wipe the enemy out of Bastogne. The devastating machinegun fire had scattered and pinned down the enemy raiders, while the Colonel and his MP had picked off fleeing enemy soldiers.

As soon as the shootout ended, Cagalli screamed for a medic. Athrun was taken to a field medical station as quickly as possible to tend to his wounds. Although the bullets were all taken out, his wounds cleaned and stitched up, Athrun had lost a fair amount of blood. Luckily he didn't need blood transfusion and all he needed was much needed rest. At the field medical station, Cagalli stayed with Athrun who was fast asleep. Cagalli felt relieved as he wasn't as bad as some other wounded soldiers in the station. One man had both his legs blown off, another had lost his jaw and one man had half his face missing. She wondered how Kira and Miriallia were coping in the front lines. Cagalli stroked Athrun's smooth, midnight blue hair praying for his safe and painless recovery.

Meanwhile, the 4th Platoon was greatly reduced over the weeks; they initially had twelve men, now they only had seven. Shinn, Stellar, Kira, Dearka, Miriallia, Yzak and another trooper were the only ones standing in 4th platoon. Their supplies were so short that they were restricted to nine bullets a day, they were starving, outnumbered, outgunned and outmaneuvered. The men at Bastogne were next door to impossibility; they couldn't hold out much longer. The lines were so thinly defended that a wild dog could wander through the woods and get past their thin defenses. The survivors were in a bad condition; they were malnourished, most had the cold and some had frostbite. However despite this, the airborne kept their grit and never let their spirits down. They were told by the Colonel that General Patton was coming to relieve them; it was only a matter of time, but the irony was that it was a matter of time before the Airborne defenses would capitulate under an iron vice applying continuous pressure.

The Colonel's strategy was masterfully planned and utilized to its full potential. The Airborne held out a lot longer than initially expected. The enemy commanders were greatly frustrated with the rugged defenses. Their relentless assaults were thrown off by the resilient and cunning Airborne. Defense was not all that mattered, the brilliant army logistics and strategies were utilized to full potential planned by the Colonel. The enemy commanders quickly came to mutually respect the Colonel putting up one of the greatest military stands of all history. Even though the raiders were sneaking past the thin defenses, the Colonel saw past this problem by mounting 'search and destroy' jeep patrols and applying the MP shift system. These strategies had accounted for a three to one casualty rate: for every one Airborne trooper killed or wounded, three of the enemy troopers perished.

This all changed the next morning when the whether greatly improved. The winds had died down, the snow stopped falling and in the skies above, hundreds of Allied aircraft were seen above the battered town of Bastogne. Supplies were suddenly parachuted in. Thousands of crates of supplies; bullets, weapons, K-rations, cigarettes, heavy weapons, medical supplies and more were parachuted in. However, that was not all. The mammoth supply drops were followed up with para-drops of reinforcements. Thousands of paratroopers that filled the skies above were a blissful sight to the 101st Airborne and a terrifying revelation to the enemy below. To add the cherry on top; the Canadian 3rd mechanized infantry were only sixty miles away to the west. The Airborne were only a day or two away from being relieved by their Canadian brother in arms.

The defenses were set up and fortified, this time, the lines were not overstretched and the supplies came in abundance. Hours later, a desperate attempt by the ZAFT and the Storm Troopers took place. An all out attack to take Bastogne ended in a major failure; this major failure by the ZAFT and their Storm Trooper counterparts mainly due to more a reinforced and resupplied Airborne unit, another factor was air allied superiority. The very next morning, Canadian troops arrived to relieve the 'Battered Bastards of Bastogne'. This last ditch offensive by the ZAFT had greatly reduced their veteran fighting force to a mere conscript army. Their most experienced soldiers lay perished in the battlefields of Bastogne.

Defeat was inevitable for Gilbert Durandal and Hitler. The Plant union was crumbling under its own actions. The Allies were closing in from all sides. The ZAFT were on the defensive while the Allies brought more manpower and resources to the war to destroy the Plant union to the ground. However, both dictators requested for one last push by the legendary 'Minerva' mechanized division to make a last stand. The Plant union decided to fight on until the end, but the Minerva division lacked vital supplies to keep it alive. The mechanized units were transferred into infantry as the tanks and armoured vehicles were left as they were stripped of their guns.

The entire Airborne division was given RnR as a reward for their valiant and sub-human efforts. The Colonel saw to it that every single man got RnR for at least one month. The 101st division left for Paris right after a friendly drink with the 3rd Canadian mechanized infantry. The troopers were given the best of everything; luxurious suites with crystal chandeliers and more.

When the Colonel was taking a walk around the city streets of Paris, one thing caught his eye. A young girl around the age of eight or ten was wandering around the streets in crutches. He saw that one of her legs was missing. She was dirty and dressed in many rags and tags. Sympathy spread as it was clear that she was without any place to stay. The Colonel generously took her into his care and gave her a place to stay in one of the suites. Since all the rooms had been taken up, Stellar was moved out of her room and ordered to bunk up with Shinn; she was not bothered by this at all. "Look after her Loussier. Treat her like your sister." the Colonel ordered before going off to start his mountain sized paperwork.

Athrun was moved to a hospital in Paris, the best quality hospital that money could buy. All the patients had a room to themselves, unlike most military hospitals with many wounded men crowded in. Athrun was still weak from the wounds he received earlier on, but his health seemed to radically improve. Cagalli was almost always at bedside with Athrun and encouraged him to eat up to gain his strength, "You know Athrun, you have to eat sometime or else you won't recover at all." Cagalli argued trying to force in a slice of orange, "I'm not that hungry and I will recover with a little thing called S-L-E-E-P!" Athrun spelled out slowly, clearly annoyed that Cagalli woke Athrun up every ten minutes before he got the chance to get any proper sleep.

"Hmph! Fine, don't blame me if you faint from exhaustion." Cagalli sighed, "Yep I'll faint from exhaustion all right… exhaustion from your nagging." Athrun smirked, Cagalli glanced Athrun an angry face that was turning crimson, Athrun couldn't help but laugh, "I was kidding Cagalli, besides, I think you're cute when you get angry." Athrun laughed, "Okay that does it. I'm out of here!" Cagalli stormed off throwing a mandarin at Athrun who expertly caught it with ease. Athrun couldn't stop laughing; he continued hysterically laughing for a good fifteen minutes before stopping. Some of the other patients got confused and wondered if they were actually in a mental institute instead.

Kira was resting on the couch until someone knocked lightly on the door. Kira slowly walked to the door wanting to just tell the person to come back after he was done resting. As Kira sluggishly opened the door, he was in for a surprise, "Lacus!" Kira shouted in disbelief, "Kira!" Lacus leaped onto Kira hugging him tightly; however Kira lost balance and fell on his back with Lacus on top. Perceptively speaking, Lacus was a goddess. She had long, smooth pink hair, sapphire blue eyes and was always dressed like a goddess. "How did you find me?" Kira asked while kissing Lacus in the doorway in full view of Stellar walking by getting a tray of food to the little one-legged girl, "I have my sources of intelligence too you know." Lacus replied kissing back. Stellar did both Kira and Lacus a favour by closing the door silently.

While Kira and Lacus were having their 'moment', Stellar introduced herself to the girl. "Hi!" Stellar cheerfully said as she walked in with a tray of beef stew and bread, "Hi." the little girl answered with little enthusiasm. She then noticed a familiar necklace around Stellar's neck, "Hey I used to have that same necklace too!" she exclaimed, "Oh really?" Stellar asked placing the tray on the table, the little girl nodded, "Here you can have it if you want to." Stellar said taking off her necklace that Shinn gave to her and placing it around the girls' neck. "I'm Stellar by the way." Stellar smiled, "Thanks, this looks like the one that my brother got me on my birthday… oh, right. I'm Mayu Asuka."


	21. Chapter 20

Stellar dropped the tray in shock, full of realization that this little girl was Shinn's little sister, "Are you alright?" Mayu nervously asked. Stellar could naught but stare. Shinn had previously told Stellar that his entire family was wiped out. "Mayu," Stellar called, "Can you please come with me?" Stellar asked softly still suffering slightly from her initial shock. Mayu nodded ever so slightly and picked up her crouches to follow Stellar.

Stellar and Mayu arrived in the suite that Shinn was staying in, "Stellar, back already?" Shinn shouted from the kitchen, "Yep and I brought company too." Stellar replied with a smile, "Great timing, I'm preparing some supper right now." Shinn shouted back, "I have a surprise for you Shinn." Stellar said with a smile, Mayu yelped with hearing her brother's name, "Shinn!" Mayu yelled falling over, initially forgetting that she had one leg missing. Shinn appeared out of the kitchen to see Mayu. His reaction was a mixture of shock, surprise and happiness. Shinn dashed to Mayu and held her tightly. The scene was a complete Godsend. Stellar couldn't be happier for Shinn who was bursting in tears with her sister who was alive and well… (Well I guess she's not that well, considering she has one leg.)

The next morning, Athrun was still sleeping like a baby in his hospital room. Cagalli, Kira and Lacus showed up all with smiles. "Well I never thought that a self-centered brat you'd ever get married." Cagalli smirked, "Are you kidding Cagalli?" Lacus said, "Kira is everything but that." Lacus said, "That's right, he's also annoying." Cagalli remarked.

Athrun was waken up from the noise. "Hey Athrun's finally up." Kira grinned, "What's going on?" Athrun asked dazed and still groggy, "Lover-bird Kira here proposed to Lacus last night." Cagalli said, "And I heard Kira popped the question while doing 'it'." Cagalli smirked. Kira and Lacus both blushed, "Lacus! How could you?" Kira shot, "I certainly didn't say anything." Lacus said ever so innocently, "Actually, Stellar told me." Cagalli said, "She was told me that she was quite jealous after seeing you two doing that." Cagalli remarked, "What is it with girls and gossip?" Kira complained.

The hospital room door swung wide open as the Colonel came in, "Oh sorry, I forgot my manners." the Colonel went out, closed the door and knocked before opening the door again and coming in. "Miss Yula Athha, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you." the Colonel said sympathetically, "What is it Colonel?" Cagalli asked, "Well I have reports here that… the ORB union has been disbanded. I have the documents that the United Emirates of ORB has been replaced by another world organization." the Colonel said, he read the report out loud:

"_The people of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union have seen the ORB union unfit to continue to exist as our world's leading protectorates. Countless failures by the leaders of ORB, to reinforce their sovereignty over oppressive powers to protect the helpless nations that the ORB union swore to protect. Many times we have demanded that the ORB use their trade sanctions and military might to discourage the enemy powers from flaring up another gruesome and unpredictable war. And many times this was ignored by the arrogance of the ORB union's key leaders; once again, innocent people have been made to pay in blood for the ORB union's mammoth mistakes. _

_Although we would like to see all of the key leaders of the ORB union removed from power, we believe that we should offer positions of power to the more compromising ORB members in the United Nations. Should these members decline our offer, we shall compensate for their loss. We the people see fit that Princess of ORB: Cagalli Yula Athha should be the honorary chairperson in the United Nations. Official reports tell us of Miss Athha's actions during the years of insecurity. Miss Athha had many of her orders for a trade sanction on the enemy powers denied by the ORB officials, her demands for military actions were rejected numerous times. Only at the start of the world war did ORB's congress agree to take any military action. _

_Official declarations from almost all of the European countries and most of the African and Asian leaders have demanded the disbanding of the ORB union and the rise of another world organization. Instead of declaring that one family and/or nations hold such vast authority, we compromise that the world itself and five key superpower nations should be the world's key protectorate from future conflicts. _

_We also demand that the Plants union should stay in power and governed under another democratic leader after the Plants leaders are disposed of. We advise that this newly appointed leader should be someone who has close ties with people trustworthy; someone with political background as well as experience in the military and has some knowledge of the domestic and world economy. _

_We are confident that the newly formed, United Nations peace organization will fulfill its duties in the future and hopefully until the end of all mankind._

_Signed: Andrew Waltfeld, the people's minister of economic and social equality._

The Colonel left the documents on the table next to Athrun's bed and left in a hurry. Cagalli's face had reflected numerous emotions; shock, confusion, anger, outrage, disgust. Cagalli scanned her eyes over the reports, "Oh well if you look at the time, we have to meet… err… err… Dearka! Um, Dearka! We have to tell him and Miriallia about us, let's go Lacus." Kira said quickly dragging Lacus with him, "But Kira… hey stop that… Kira we can't just…" before Lacus could finish, Kira shut the door dragging Lacus away with him away from an active volcano about to erupt.

Cagalli immediately ripped the document again and again as Athrun watched hoping that she Athrun wouldn't suffer the same fate. Cagalli then threw the little pieces of paper and cried: "Wahoo!" as the paper acted like confetti. Athrun scratched his head in confusion, "Err… I… um… why are you so… happy about all of this?" Athrun asked, "Are you kidding? I hated all that politics and all that paper work and besides, I was basically a political pawn in the ORB: I couldn't even get a single bill passed." Cagalli said, overjoyed to be out of the corrupted ORB union. However she did feel a little guilty. The idea of a world's single protectorate was the idea of Uzumi Athha; seen as the man to win over the hearts and minds of the populace with a clear conscience and good intentions; the kind of leader that a peaceful world can't live without.

"So I see that Kira's allowed to have sex while we can't." Athrun said jealously thinking of some way to outwit Kira in this situation, Cagalli gasped, "Excuse me, but you're the devil who stole my soul against my will." Cagalli angrily pointed out, "Yeah yeah Cags, I know you liked it too, especially when I started kissing your neck." Athrun smirked, Cagalli snorted in disbelief, "Oh yeah, do that again and I'll show you what your neck will feel like in a minute." Cagalli raised her fist shaking them in front of Athrun, "Why don't you give me a lesson right now?" Athrun daringly said with a wide smirk, "I would love to, but hurting a wounded person just doesn't seem right… and don't call me Cags, you're not my boyfriend or anything." Cagalli shot back, "Oh that really broke my heart." Athrun said in a sarcastically upset tone and a puppy dog's look, "Don't use that on me Zala. You're wasting your time by doing that you know." Cagalli smiled, slicing up an apple, "No seriously Athrun, you need to eat up." Cagalli continued slicing, "I won't eat anything, unless you feed me." Athrun smiled, "In your dreams Zala." Cagalli laughed. Athrun stared at Cagalli with the saddest expression he could come up with, he stared for minutes while Cagalli was cutting and peeling the skin from the fruit. "Okay already, I'll feed you, just stop that cute puppy dog look." Cagalli giggled.

Meanwhile, Kira introduced Lacus to Shinn and Stellar; Mayu was being looked after by the Colonel who had finished his paperwork overnight, he insisted that he look after Mayu while Shinn and Stellar went off to have fun. Kira, Lacus, Shinn, Stellar, Dearka, Miriallia and Yzak came together and decided to go and watch a movie at the Borgeusne Theater. The theatres were crowded with soldiers on RnR, in which case the group decided to dine out at a five star restaurant (Lacus's treat) before seeing a play about William Shakespeare.

With the rest of the day off, Athrun and Cagalli decided to check out of the hospital. Athrun claimed to be better although he still looked rather pale. Athrun and Cagalli stayed in their suite sleeping on the bed lying in each other's arms. This action ended up disastrously, as the couples overslept forgetting about what Kira and the others might think if they found that they checked out of the hospital.

In the evening the group returned to visit Athrun and Cagalli after their first night out. To their surprise they found Athrun's room empty with only little pieces of paper lying on the floor. At first Kira thought that Athrun and Cagalli were moved to another room, but they soon found out that Athrun checked out. "Uh oh, I think those two are having the time of their lives right now." Dearka poked Kira, "What does that mean?" Kira said, "Athrun and Cagalli are probably just… oh my goodness!" Kira said dramatically, "You're such a drama queen Kira." Lacus smiled exuberantly, "God only knows what those two are up to." Miriallia teased, "The Princess of ORB? Now wouldn't that be a sight?" Shinn smirked.

Meanwhile, Athrun and Cagalli were still deep asleep in each others arms. Although they did nothing out of the ordinary, they'd still have to explain to Kira and the others of what was going on. Kira picked the lock on their door; a light 'click' was heard implying that the door had been unlocked. Kira slowly and quietly sneaked in followed up by Lacus, Dearka and then Miriallia; the rest of the group went back to their rooms. Kira came within feet of Athrun and Cagalli still dozing off. The sight was enough for Kira to handle. Kira fetched a large glass of cold water and hurled its contents on the sleeping couple. The cold water immediately had its effect waking them up instantly as both Athrun and Cagalli bolted upright. "What the hell was that for?" Cagalli yelled, "One, that was for thinking you could get away with it. Two, for sleeping on the same bed half naked. Three, it's a good method to waking people up." Kira stated, "Kira let them be, you sister never did that to me when she found out that you were dating me" Lacus argued, "Good point, but still, they've been unofficially dating for how long?", "A month and a bit now." Kira proclaimed, "It's far too early for them to be at this stage." Kira pointed at the two in bed, "It's not what it looks like Kira. We didn't do anything like that." Cagalli said, "Well why don't you enlighten us and tell us what you were doing then." Kira folded his arms waiting for a reply, "Just sleeping with each other… you know… the natural state of bodily rest." Athrun replied intelligently, "Honest to God Kira." Cagalli said, "Now can you bloody well do us a favour and get out!" Cagalli yelled.

Kira wasn't completely sure whether his sister and his best friend were telling the truth, but the tone and temper of Cagalli kept him from investigating the matter even further. However frightened Athrun was of Kira's over protectiveness, he was as cunning as a fox. Athrun decided to take advantage of the situation. Athrun immediately pinned down Cagalli's arms firmly, Cagalli shrieked in surprise, "What are you doing Athrun?" Cagalli asked nervously thinking that Athrun might decide to rape her, "I'm taking advantage of the situation, Kira's highly unlikely to be back so soon and we have all this free time." Athrun proclaimed placing kisses on Cagalli's neck, Cagalli's whole body was tickling from pleasure as the sensation spread throughout her entire body.

Unfortunately for both Athrun and Cagalli, Lacus had left her jacket behind previously while trying to restrain Kira, she quickly went back, quietly opened the door and to her surprise, both Athrun and Cagalli were locked in a 'fierce conflict over territory'. Lacus flushed a light shade of red while quickly, but quietly getting her jacket and leaving as quickly as she came. Cagalli was tempted by Athrun's muscular outlines and his smooth alabaster skin. Shinn and Stellar were next door and were stirred up by the strange bumping and moaning noises.

However, Lacus was not the only one who was watching them. From a distance a man in his mid-forties was spying at them with binoculars, infuriated and on the very brink of insanity. Looking at Athrun and Cagalli was enough to make him want to kill them, but watching them make love was just too much. "Sir, I'm back at twenty three hundred just like you ordered sir." a teen with long blonde hair and cold blue eyes said firmly, "Private Rey Za Burrel. Have you found what you have needed about those rotten, stinking Airborne troops that stormed the castle?" the man asked still in rage, "Yes sir, I found that the person who led the attack is too much of a challenge to eliminate with out current resources. We have a total of two targets." Rey said, "Their names: Shinn Asuka and Stellar Loussier. They should be easy enough to take out." Rey assured, "Where the hell is that sideshow of yours?" the man angrily asked, "Private Lunamaria is coming, she's got our weapons." Rey said, unmoved by the anger and rage of his superior, "Remember Rey, we are exacting vengeance on these rotting bastards, we're doing this for your father and for Hitler. I'll have a plan ready by two days time." Rey saluted and replied: "Yes Sir General Zala." Rey went off.

General Patrick Zala looked through the binoculars with Athrun and Cagalli in his sight, "I promise you boy, I'm going to inflict so much pain on you that you'll be on your knees before me begging me to put you out of your misery."


	22. Chapter 21

Cagalli woke up as the morning sunshine hit her eyes

Cagalli woke up as the morning sunshine hit her eyes. She was firmly in Athrun's strong arms. Athrun woke up shortly after looking into Cagalli's amber eyes Athrun smiled as he gently stroked her silky blonde hair. Cagalli could only smile back in return; Cagalli's captivating smile always melted Athrun's heart.

Before Athrun had met Cagalli, his life was dull. His life was all about discipline and about being the best. His father was strict on Athrun; the slightest mess up meant a severe punishment, such as beating Athrun unconscious. Even this wasn't enough to escape punishment; his father would reawaken him with a cold bucket of water before continuing to beat him.

The same could be said with Cagalli. After high school, Cagalli was basically a political pawn in the ORB union to be toyed with. Her attempts to better the world were put on cold ice as the enormous power granted to the ORB union had corrupted the ORB's leaders. Cagalli lived years of no accomplishments in the ORB. As good as a Princess of ORB as she was, she still had no influence whatsoever in the corrupted minds of the ORB leaders.

"What say we get some breakfast now?" Cagalli suggested, "I'm starving." Cagalli continued, "If you give me one more kiss, then breakfast will be my treat." Athrun negotiated with a smirk, "I'm not giving you anymore ammunition than you already have." Cagalli laughed, "Especially not after last night." Cagalli said, "You certainly seemed to enjoy last night." Athrun said unaware that Shinn and Stellar had got up early using their glass cups on the walls next door to listen into the conversation quite effectively.

Stellar signaled for Shinn to move out, "That explains the bumping noises we heard last night." Stellar whispered, "Hey Stellar, how come we aren't as far as they are right now?" Shinn asked envious of the couple next door, "First off, you never asked." Stellar replied, "Well can we try tonight?" Shinn had his hopes up, "Sorry Shinn, how about after the war?" Stellar compromised, "It's a deal." Shinn closed. "What ya doing big bro?" Mayu yelled making both Shinn and Stellar jump when Mayu sneaked up on them, both Shinn and Stellar dropped their glass cups smashing them into little pieces; this was enough to stir up suspicion next door.

The loud voice of Mayu and the fall of smashing of glass had given away their position, "Oh no!" Athrun exclaimed, "What?" Cagalli asked still unsuspecting, "I think Shinn and Stellar were invading our privacy." Athrun said, "Oh hell! Kira's gonna kill you, you know that right?" Cagalli said getting off the bed and getting dressed hastily, "Not if I have a little word with them." Athrun said getting dressed more efficiently. Athrun knocked on the door with Shinn and Stellar cleaning up the mess, "I'll get it." Shinn said getting up and walking slowly to the door. Shinn was surprised to see Athrun standing in front of him, "Morning Shinn." Athrun said pleasantly, "Morning commander." Shinn could only reply a bit shaken up, "I assume you're going to keep your mouth zipped about last night." Athrun said, "What're you talking about sir?" Shinn acted like nothing had happened, "Don't play dumb with me, I know you and your girlfriend was listening in on us and I know that you know what happened right?" Athrun asked, "…" Shinn started cracking, "Right?" Athrun repeated, "Um… yeah… right." Shinn admitted, "Why don't we keep it all between us, okay?" Athrun smiled, "Yeah, what happens in this place, stays in this place." Shinn said, "Good, I'm glad we have an understanding." Athrun said before leaving.

In the dining rooms, the entire group was seen: Kira, Lacus, Dearka, Miriallia, Shinn and Stellar were seen. Only Yzak was absent. Athrun and Cagalli came to find that everyone was about halfway through their meals. "Ah Athrun, Cagalli, you guys seem to be in a good mood this morning." Lacus winked. Athrun and Cagalli flinched, "Especially after you both had s..." Stellar was interrupted by Shinn who had coughed out loud, "I heard you guys had the best quality sparkling grape juice this continent has to offer." Shinn covered weakly, however Kira started to suspect something was up. He decided to shake things up a bit, "Do you have anymore?" Kira asked, "Err no, Cagalli and I had the whole thing last night." Athrun lied, "The whole bottle?" Kira said acting surprised, "No, we shared half with Shinn and Stellar who are just next door to us." Athrun said as Shinn and Stellar both nodded. "What's this grape juice called?" Kira asked smartly, "Err… some long French name." Athrun said, "Villa Maria." Cagalli intervened, "Isn't that New Zealand wine?" Dearka asked, "Kira, why all these questions?" Lacus asked, "Just wondering what drink to get for our wedding, I want the best of everything for us you know." Kira lied. Kira knew something had developed the day or night before, he was curious as to what had happened.

Kira decided to investigate the matter even further. He decided to sneak into Athrun and Cagalli's room. "Oh I have a meeting with the Colonel, I'll be right back." Kira set up as his excuse. While Athrun and Cagalli were starting their breakfast, Kira picked the lock on their door and entered. He searched inside and out, looking for the 'mythical' bottle of grape juice that they had been talking about. He hadn't found a trace of evidence, until he saw the bed, messed up and roughly untidy out of proportion with the clean suite. As he checked the bed covers, he saw the sheets covered with dried sperm traces and spotted a green bra (obviously not Athrun's) on the floor. It didn't take long for Kira to accuse Athrun and Cagalli. Kira wasn't too angry. He did rather want to have Athrun with Cagalli than trust her with anyone else.

After ten short minutes, Kira returned to the dining hall to find that only Athrun, Cagalli and Lacus were remaining. "Athrun, one word outside." Kira said, Athrun gave a worried look as Kira led him to the back where the rubbish was kept. "I know what you did with Cagalli last night." Kira said shooting a glare directed at Athrun, "I guess there's no point denying it." Athrun said without fear, "Look Athrun. I know that you like my sister, but don't you think your rushing your relationship a bit?" Kira showed little signs of frustration, "I guess so, but Kira you don't understand, we have a mutual understanding of each other. We also don't want some crazed, overprotective brother controlling our relationship." Athrun said clearly implying that the 'crazed and overprotective' brother was Kira, "Alright fine. I just want to protect Cagalli after all that she's been through right now; you know, treated like dirt in the ORB union for years, being captured, tortured, having to have to go through Bastogne. The last thing we need is another bad chain of events." Kira explained, "I'll protect her now Kira, you have my word." Athrun promised, "Good. Since this war is almost over, I guess we can celebrate tonight." Kira said.

The Colonel suddenly came from behind with a handful of paperwork, "So you guys didn't hear?" the Colonel asked, "Woah! How do you keep appearing and disappearing like that?" Kira asked confusedly, "I'm magic… Nah just kidding with you." the Colonel laughed, "Anyway, here I have papers… damn it! Where did I put it… ah, here." the Colonel grabbed one of the hundreds of documents in his hand, "Here is a copy of the declaration of the ZAFT army's honourable surrender." the Colonel grabbed another document, "And here is the copy of the declaration of the Waffen SS and the Storm Trooper's honourable surrender." the Colonel kept coming with more, "And these are reports of the suicide of Hitler and Gilbert Durandal… they shot themselves after the Ardennes offensive had failed." the Colonel kept hitting home, "And this is the total and unconditional surrender of the Plant union signed by its secondary leaders." the Colonel hit the jackpot, Athrun and Kira felt as if they were dreaming, "War's over boys. You're going home." the Colonel concluded. Athrun and Kira shouted with joy, "Colonel that's great news, we…" Kira said, but saw that the Colonel had disappeared again without a trace, "How does he do that?" Athrun asked in disbelief.

Athrun and Kira went back to spread the good news. Everyone was overjoyed; the years of bitter conflict had finally ended. Shinn and Stellar had received the news from the Colonel himself. Both were so happy that they hugged the Colonel in a group hug. "Easy does it troopers." the Colonel said, "Sorry Colonel." Shinn said. Stellar dashed off, "I'm gonna go tell the others." Stellar said. "So have you decided what you're going to do afterwards?" the Colonel asked, "We're probably going to celebrate in some five star restaurant after we tell the others." Shinn said enthusiastically, "No I meant once you're honourably discharged from the army." the Colonel said putting his documents away, "I don't know, my mother did have a small paper printing company before this war." Shinn remembered, "Don't tell me about, I don't want to see or hear anything about paper again." the Colonel said harshly; he was sick of paperwork and more paperwork. There was just so much that he was put off even looking at paper, but he had to do it, it was his job.

"What about you Colonel?" Shinn asked, "…" the Colonel stayed silent, "Is everything alright Colonel?" Shinn asked, "Yes, everything's fine. Just wanted to know where you and Loussier are permanently staying when you're discharged." the Colonel said, "We haven't thought about it. We don't have enough money to buy a house and live our lives, so that means that we'll be serving in the army for another couple of years before finding a home and…" Shinn stopped, "and what?" the Colonel asked curiously, "Getting married." Shinn blushed. "Well it's about time. Oh and why don't you get married this week?" the Colonel suggested, "This week!" Shinn said surprisingly, "Yeah, all you have to do is find your outfits and let me prepare the rest. Food, the place, the invitations, everything." the Colonel said proudly, "No Colonel I can't. I haven't got a ring to offer Stellar and I haven't proposed yet." Shinn set out his excuses. "Come with me Asuka." the Colonel said. Both had walked to the Colonel's office room in one of the Allied HQ's in Paris.

The Colonel's office was a shamble of paperwork and coffee cups. It was apparent that the Colonel had worked every night for the last couple of days. The Colonel opened one of his drawers and paused briefly. He took out an envelope which was slightly browned and stained showing that it was stored for a long time. As the Colonel opened the envelope, a glistening, platinum covered ring with a deep stellar blue, sapphire gemstone had attracted Shinn's eye. "This Asuka, is the ring that I offered to my girlfriend long ago." the Colonel said reflecting the past events painfully, "What happened sir?" Shinn asked extremely curious as to knowing about the Colonel's past, "A car accident on the night that I was going to propose." the Colonel simply put it, "She's a beauty isn't she?" the Colonel asked, "It's perfect Colonel!" Shinn exclaimed, "Propose to her tonight, here are two passes to that five star restaurant. Propose whenever you want and let me know what happened tomorrow." the Colonel said, "Yes sir, thank you sir."

Meanwhile, General Zala had been plotting his revenge and without any sleep. Athrun was so close that he could taste his blood already. His blood was boiling at maximum temperature. General Zala planned every detail of his evil scheme to utter perfection. Little did he know that the lack of sleep had made his plan more prone to go down in failure, fortunately for him, Rey had time to stop by and tell him the errors in the flawed plan. Rey had encouraged General Zala to get some rest, but with Athrun and Cagalli a binocular distance away, it was difficult, but he still managed to get some shut eye. But after learning of the Plant union's unconditional surrender, General Patrick Zala wanted more revenge than ever. General Zala pulled out his P-38 handgun and his knife and started towards Athrun's suite, Rey and Lunamaria quickly restrained him, to make matters worse; Athrun and Cagalli were seen through the window to be in another passionate kiss. Rey and Lunamaria convinced General Zala to calm down over time. All three had planned their scheme together.

As the streets of Paris were running wild on celebration to mark the end of the bitter war that evening, Shinn had taken Stellar out to dinner at the five star restaurant. The restaurant was considerably empty as most of the civilians and soldiers were out on the streets busy celebrating. Their evening could have not been more perfect. Everything was perfect, the food, the music, the atmosphere. The stars above were like diamonds in the stray. Shinn was as nervous as he had ever been. His breathing was abnormal and he was sweating profusely that evening. "Are you okay Shinn?" Stellar asked thinking that the seafood chowder had made him sick. Shinn got on his knees next to Stellar; Stellar went down to his level to see what was wrong, "No Stellar get back up, please." Shinn said wiping off his sweat, telling Stellar his poem;

_Stellar whenever I look into your sweet magenta eyes,  
I feel as if I wish to drown in them.  
I remember the first time I met you,  
it was as if you had turned my heart of stone into goo.  
__  
I wish we could have met long before this war.  
__My life was not worth living before,  
__Your elegance is more to me than King Midas's silver,  
you are worth more to me than all the gold in this world.  
Please Stellar open your heart to me and sing,_

_Something that not even heaven could bring.  
__Stellar your sweet, innocent smile captured my heart.  
Now I ask to have a new life to start,_

_With you Stellar, my life is complete,  
__For I love you with all of my heart and all of my spirit.  
All I can give you in return is my love.  
__Will you marry me Stellar?_

Stellar blushed, she knew that Shinn was romantic, but she never knew that Shinn could be this chivalrous. Stellar bent down with Shinn and replied: "Shinn. Yes, I will marry you." Stellar said. The few people present in the restaurant applauded the soon to be wedded couple as they too were captivated by Shinn's amateur poem. The two shared a long and passionate kiss that attracted the attention from outside. Coincidentally, Kira and Lacus were outside and were drawn to the shouts of joy from inside the restaurant. Kira and Lacus were caught in the moment as Shinn offered the glistening ring to Stellar. Little did they know that a spy with short pink hair was watching Shinn and Stellar with a curious eye in an interest in the developments that had unfolded that evening.

The clock hit midnight when Lunamaria came to report what had just conspired when out on recon. Rey and General Zala were surprised. "Agent Hawke, find out all you can about them. Stay close to them, I don't care how you do it, I just want you to stay close to them and learn everything that you can." General Zala ordered. "If what you say is true, then I have a plan that will be both satisfying and will give us personal victory." General Zala proclaimed, "Rey, you're on recon with Agent Hawke." General Zala ordered.

Rey was the son of Gilbert Durandal. Rey was now contempt upon getting some form of revenge on the Allies for his father's forced suicide. He saw this chance by following General Patrick Zala to continue mounting guerilla warfare. Lunamaria on the other hand was as deceptive as she was pretty; that's why she was picked for being a spy.But as pretty as she may be, she was one self-centred, arrogant and a naturally evil being. She loved to inflict pain and kill people; torturing and assassination was her specialties. The sight of her younger sister was unbearable. Lunamaria hated her sister so much that she placed an array of weapons and bombs as evidence to torture her to death. She made her own sister's death a horrid and excruciatingly painful death.

The infiltrators consisting of only three members in a cell were planning something big. Something to get back at Athrun and the Airborne troops involved in the rescue raid at Colditz. No one was even suspecting anything yet, especially not Athrun and Cagalli who were taking life for granted as soon as they heard that the war was over. However, they could feel something coming right around the corner towards them at full throttle.

**Hope you enjoyed it :)  
I hate to inform everyone that I might not update until a month or so, I have exams to study for so I'll have no time to write to all of you brilliant readers. Sorry that I took 2-3 days updating this chapter. I was trying to think of what to do next. So, if anyone has any exciting andthrillingideas for the next chapter, please share.**

**Oh yeah. For those who thought that the poem sucked, I took like 30mins to write it, so it's rough.  
Don't forget to review! :)**


	23. Chapter 22

**Hey there everyone! I've just come back from exams... boy, the physics and calculus exams were by far the most difficult. Anyway, new chapter is up, enjoy.**

* * *

The dull grey skies were sparkling with light snow dancing in the cold winter breeze. Athrun continued staring outside into empty space revising his childhood memories. Those times seemed to have been centuries ago; when his mother was still alive and well, his family untouched by the cruelty and suffering of the Great War that came down as unexpectedly as his mother's death. Athrun slid down silent tears while he thought that Cagalli was still dozing off in her peaceful sleep. However, things were not always peaceful around Athrun's household before the war. Athrun's father would sometimes come home drunk after endless hours behind the desk; violence was fueled by alcohol. Athrun would receive beatings from his father for no reason, sometimes leaving him knocked out cold; although his mother did everything in her power to protect Athrun, she was as much a victim as Athrun. One moment of his life he would never forget was seven years ago:

_Patrick Zala stormed through the door, slamming the door against the wall. "ATHRUN ZALA GET OVER HERE NOW!" Patrick yelled as loud as humanly possible. Athrun crept up with his mother at his side. "Please Patrick, Athrun's done nothing wrong." Lenore pleaded while Athrun watched in pure fear expecting the worst just like every other occasion. Patrick ignored his wife and went straight toward Athrun pushing aside Lenore causing her to fall. _

_The stench of alcohol was obvious from a mile away. Athrun stood frozen, unable to move as he shook with fear, his eyes widening. "You ruined my life boy, you're mistake of a son!" Patrick grabbed Athrun's hair and punched him dead centre in the stomach. Athrun winced from the pain inflicted as Athrun fell to the ground clutching his stomach gasping for air._

"STOP IT!" Lenore cried grabbing Patrick, trying to calm him down, but to no avail. She was pushed out of the way again before Patrick stomped on Athrun dozens of times before turning his attention to Lenore. "That's what he gets Lenore, when I was his age; I was doing my bit for the war efforts enlisting even though I was five years underage, what has he got to show for it? NOTHING!" Patrick yelled. Patrick staggered towards Lenore grabbing her and throwing her around the house, ignoring Athrun and this time taking his anger out on Lenore.

_Athrun lay still, still in pain from an unjustified beating from his father. Patrick eventually muscled Lenore into the bedroom where Patrick threw Lenore onto the bed. Athrun could only watch in horror as he saw his mother cry out, "Wait Patrick, stop!" as Patrick pinned her arms against the bed while entering in and out of her. Athrun was paralyzed with shock to see his father raping his mother. As helpless as Athrun was, he still had the courage to speak against his father at a young age, "Father, stop already!" Athrun shouted weakly before blacking out._

While Athrun was recapping his painful past in tears, Cagalli placed her hand gently on Athrun's broad shoulders. "Athrun." Cagalli said softly and her tone filled with sympathy; Athrun couldn't bear to cry silently anymore, he burst in tears on Cagalli's shoulder holding her tightly, sobbing and letting out all his emotions before Cagalli. As Athrun sobbed, he let out the sad and painful emotions that he had experienced through all the years when his life took a dramatic plunge. Athrun summed his father up in just four separate words: negligent, arrogant, cold, cruel. He still had a photo of his family folded and scrunched up in his wallet. He felt like tearing his father's face off. All that Athrun ever wanted from his father was recognition and praise, but that was almost as impossible as trying to drive a car with no steering wheels.

After several minutes of endless sobbing, Athrun shared every small detail of his life story. "Why didn't your mum just divorce him?" Cagalli asked, "Women couldn't divorce men, only the men could divorce. Women couldn't even vote back several years ago." Athrun simply explained, "Some women around the world today don't even have equality." Athrun continued, "Luckily Lacus and some of her feminist activists in New Zealand had put pressure on the publican government there to force them to give women equal rights." Cagalli said, "That's when the whole world started to follow suit in enfranchising the women." Cagalli continued, "We're all lucky to have had Lacus around. Otherwise people like your father would still have taken advantage on your mum." Cagalli stated, "I'm lucky to have met you Cagalli." Athrun brought his arms around Cagalli in a warm embrace as Cagalli did nothing but blush in reply, "Cagalli, if I hadn't of met you, I probably would've taken my own life if things had continued the way they did." Athrun stated. A long silence pursued until: "You two better not be doing 'it' in there!" the distinctive tone none other than Kira was heard behind the door, "Anyway, breakfast is ready." Kira said walking away.

Breakfast that morning was special indeed. The Colonel himself had gathered all the best chefs in the town to cook a special breakfast for the battle weary victors. Breakfast was steaming steamed shrimp with mint garnish simmered in capsicum swaree'. And that was only the entrée. The main breakfast course was good old, creamed beef on toast. The wine served was the none other than the Villa Maria red wine. "I thought you guys said this was sparkling grape juice." Kira directed at Shinn and Stellar who both acted like nothing happened. The Colonel jumped onto the dining table as everyone looked in amazement. "Good morning men." the Colonel said enthusiastically, "Mornin' sir!" everyone replied, "Now, you all deserve this breakfast and not only that, there is going to be a wedding this week. Asuka here is marrying Loussier and you're all invited. It's going to be held in that church where that hunchback guy lived secretly as legend says." the Colonel said before everyone applauded, cheered and laughed.

Kira interrupted, "Sorry to disrupt Colonel, but Lacus and I have also decided to get married." Kira said as everyone erupted with more cheering. The Colonel smiled, "So when do you two plan to have your wedding?" Kira and Lacus both looked at each other, "We're not sure yet." Kira replied, "How a conjoint wedding with the other two lovebirds?" the Colonel suggested, "This week would be great, but… but… we accept." Kira answered hesitantly, "Good, I suggest that you all go looking for some stuff for the wedding, stuff like: wedding dresses, suits and blah, blah, blah stuff like that." the Colonel yapped before walking away. "Where're you goin' Colonel?" Shinn asked, "Some fancy French commander with a silver spoon up his ass wants to meet me for some stupid, time wasting reason." the Colonel said, "Oh and Asuka, take the men for a three quarters of an hour run around the block, we are not going to get fat and unfit just because some loony shot himself… and I forgot to mention that the army just tripled the order of rations." he ended before jogging off. Athrun, Cagalli, Kira and Lacus were relieved to have not been a part of the 101st.

All the while, a private with his gal was roaming around the allied headquarters looking for the General in command. After minutes of cautious searching, General Fuller was found behind his desk nosed down in stacks of paperwork. The private knocked, "General Fuller, a little gift from your boys." the private gestured towards the pink haired girl in a dazzling black dress, "What is the meaning of this?" General Fuller said a bit intimidated, "Don't tell me that my boys got me a prostitute?" General Fuller sounded surprised, "Now, now General, we don't want to waste all that energy on talking now do we?" the young girl said in a desirable tone, "Her apartment is just down the street, she'll take you there General. So all you have to do is take her out to lunch and dinner and the date will end midnight tonight." the private saluted with a cheesy smile. The General took a short glance at the prostitute, "Looks like a coordinator to me." he said with a suspicious frown, "Does it matter?" a cunning reply was enough to change the General's mind. "Alright, why not?" the General said, "But just a date, none of that close up stuff, I got a wife you know." the General pointed to the plain ring stuck on his finger.

"Alright troopers let's hustle!" Shinn shouted to the troopers all lined up in full gear ready to take their daily run, "Hey Sarge, remind us of why the hell we need to do these exercises when the fucking war is over!" one soldier complained agitated and annoyed, "I'm Lieutenant now private… and it wasn't my idea to do this, it was the Colonel's." Shinn said, "And you better not say that again or I'll have you walk on your hands around the block." Shinn continued, "This is bullshit!" the soldier whispered to the trooper next to him. As the troopers ran around town, they sang with a cheerful heart:

"_We pull upon the risers,  
We fall upon the grass.  
We never land upon our feet,  
We always hit our ass!  
Highty tighty, Christ almighty who the hell are we?  
Zim-Zam God damn! We're Airborne Infantry!"_

After half an hour into the run, the troopers were joined by the Colonel; everyone was surprised and happy to see the Colonel, "Back already sir?" Shinn greeted, "The French commander just wanted to say hello… a waste of time huh?" the Colonel smiled, "What the hell, that's pretty freaky, I think he's trying to crack on to you sir." Shinn smirked, "Well he did try to kiss me on the cheek as all French people greet and I told him that if he tried, I would fucking pop him in the face." the Colonel said while everyone hysterically laughed, "I was only kiddin' boys." the Colonel laughed.

Everyone was relieved that the exercise was over. Shinn desperately needed time off as he was puffing heavily and sweat was pouring out. He took out a cigarette and his Zippo lighter, "Smoking isn't good for you, and you know that right?" Stellar asked trying to get him to quit early, "I know, but I think I'm already addicted to this stuff." Shinn said putting away his cigarette.

A jeep on patrol came out from the corner. A private with long blonde hair and baby blue eyes jumped off with documentation, "Who's the commander of this company?" the man shouted, "That's me." the Colonel said walking towards the man, "By order of General Fuller, all military personnel with the exception of 4th Platoon, 32nd and 69th Military Police units are be moved to a town one hundred miles, south from here in 48 hours." the private spoke out, "Fuck! That leaves about twenty men to protect this town." the Colonel complained, "Where is General Fuller now?" Colonel asked, "He's on his way to an airfield, he's taking his leave in England." the private said, "Let me see his orders." the Colonel said snatching the documents from the private. He saw that it had General Fuller's signature and was officially stamped by him. "Alright, you're free to go." the Colonel said as he handed the document back. The private saluted and jumped back on his jeep and sped off. "Fucking bullshit!" the Colonel whispered under his breath.

"Attention everyone." the Colonel yelled to the entire company, "Everyone, I have bad news. Not many of you are going to be invited to see the couple wed in holy matrimony; only 4th Platoon is." everyone booed and jeered and gasped, "General Fuller has ordered that the rest of us be moved in two days. I'm sorry, but orders are orders." the Colonel apologized.

"Phase one of the mission is complete General Zala." a blonde hair boys with baby blue eyes entered the apartment in US army uniform. "These idiots are easy to deceive." Rey stated, "Good, any word from Lunamaria?" General Zala asked, "I'm sure Lunamaria has eliminated the General of Easy Company." Rey sat down on the nearest sofa. The door clicked open as Lunamaria walked in with a grin, "Speak of the devil, here she is." Rey pointed, "I assume that everything went well." General Zala said, "One slit to the throat was all it took sir." Lunamaria grinned. "Okay you two listen up; phase two is tricky. Your task is to gather information on the remaining enemy soldiers stationed here and gather info on what is going to happen within the next month, where everyone is stationed and so forth." General Zala briefed.

"Phase three of this mission is to gather as many weapons and support for this mission. As many supporters as you can find; old, young, male, female: it doesn't matter." General Zala planned. "Weapons; we need grenades, machineguns, handguns, rifles, sub machineguns, bullets of course. Try smuggling some from the enemy barracks, but that will be a tough nut, so try another source if you can." General Zala said. "Say Lunamaria, what did you do with that General's body?" Rey asked curiously, "Poured gasoline over it and burnt it in the fireplace." she grinned evilly, "We only have a week or two to execute this plan, if we take longer, we'll be sure to be caught." General Zala warned, "Go now, what are you two waiting for, meet back here in 72 hours with new recruits, weapons, ammunition and any other supplies." General Zala dismissed with a half hearted salute. "Athrun is going to pay!" General Zala snapped.

"Arghh-Achoo!!" Athrun sneezed, "Cagalli must be talking about me… oh my lord, she better not be talking about me and what happened this morning." Athrun said in paranoia.

The Colonel had called a meeting for 4th Platoon and the remaining Military Police units that were going to remain stationed that evening. Athrun and Kira had also showed up. "Sorry to keep you up men." the Colonel said, "32nd and 69th MP units, I know that there aren't enough of you to cover enough ground here, but you'll just have to manage and do your best. In the meanwhile, follow the commands of commanding officers to the letter. Take regular patrols around this town, there are still many enemy spies and troops hiding in this town, so take extra care. And double the security on the weapons facility. That is all. You MP's are dismissed." the Colonel quickly briefed. Shuffling and the sounds of moving chairs were emitted as the remaining 4th Platoon was present.

"Sorry to tell you this 4th Platoon but, I won't be here with you, I'll be with the rest of the Company." the Colonel sighed, small gasps were heard, "But what about the wedding sir?" Kira asked, "I've got that sorted out. I have a list of people in this place that you can contact for all wedding arrangements. I've paid these people for the goods and services that they will provide." the Colonel said, "Anyway, Captain Yamato and Captain Blue-head here will be the equal commanding officers of the 4th Platoon, although they're not part of this Platoon or this Company, they are of higher status than anyone else here." the Colonel said giving the 'look' to Shinn that implied that he was sorry, "Make sure that everyone gets some exercise and split the k-rations accordingly. No one is going to get fat under my command." the Colonel finalized, "Okie dokie pig-in-a-pokie, I leave early tomorrow morning, and everyone else with follow suit the day after next."

As the meeting was drawing to a close, a soldier busted in the room, "Sir, we found three of our MP's dead near the city gates, we think it was a drunken replacement, but we're not completely sure." the trooper said in a hurry, "God damn it, these damn replacements are going to be the end of me… Take the issue up to Captain Yamato, he'll take care of it from now on." the Colonel said as he left. "Do you have anyone who saw this?" Kira asked, "We have no witnesses as of yet, but there is sure to be one sir." the trooper replied, "Did you check the caliber of the bullets?" Kira asked, "Sir?" "Check if the bullets are either .45 or .30 cal." Kira ordered, "Yes sir." the trooper saluted. Athrun turned to face Kira with a smile, "Well Kira... commander, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, with all the work I've got to do, I don't think I'll be able to help you out." Athrun walked off whistling casually, "Wait a minute. When you say 'work' you mean sex right?" Kira asked with suspicion changing to anger, "Maybe." Athrun replied before sprinting off, however he found Kira chasing him closely, "You're going to be sorry you ever said that!"

The grounds were littered with snow, homeless civilians gathered around a small fireplace embracing what meager warmth that the fire provided in the freezing European winter. Winds whistled a negative symphony for the inhabitants while passing by. The luxuries of the apartments were bliss with warmth and comfort. Athrun was glad to be back as he was almost freezing in the meeting although he had a thick jacket and more numerous layers of clothing.

"You? The Commander?" Cagalli teased with disbelief, "Well I was Captain before these dramatical turn of events." Athrun teased back, "If I thought anyone would be commander, I thought it would be Shinn." Cagalli said, "He's a Lieutenant, so by right, Kira and I should be the commanding officers." Athrun rebutted, "But you and Kira are tank commanders, not infantry commanders." Cagalli argued, "Kira and I were given basic training; but I'm the more experienced foot soldier than Kira since I got more infantry training." Athrun explained, "So you're saying that clumsy medic Dearka could have been the commanding officer if he had a higher rank?" Cagalli asked, "If he had basic training I guess." Athrun shrugged before staying silent... "Did I say something wrong?" Cagalli asked noticing the drop dead silence of Athrun, "No, It's just that we haven't seen Dearka or Miriallia since last night." Athrun stated, "Don't worry about it, they always go tripping where ever they want without telling anyone and then they turn up days later with an earful from the commanders... usually." Cagalli explained, "You know what? I'm still really worried." Athrun said sarcastically, "You're just being paranoid." Cagalli hit Athrun lightly on his chest, "To make me feel better, you could... you know." Athrun smirked as Cagalli blushed.

Cagalli was unable to reply as Kira slammed the door wide open, "OH NO YOU DON'T ATHRUN!!!" Kira pointed with widened eyes and a boiling face, "Calm down Kira, you do it all the time with Lacus." Athrun quickly made an excuse, "That's different!" Kira shouted back, "It's the same, you know, maybe I should stop you from seeing Lacus. You know what? I have a better idea, how about we trade girlfriends instead?" Athrun said with a wide smirk. Kira could only remain silent as he left as quickly as he came. "Boy you sure freaked him out." Cagalli smiled, "Oh well maybe he'll leave us alone now... so should we pick up where we left from?" Athrun asked carressing Cagalli's hair lightly, "I can't, to tired." Cagalli tried resisting, "Oh come on, I'll be quick." Athrun place butterfly pecks on Cagalli's neck sending a tingling sensation down her body, "Be quick, I wanna get some sleep now."


	24. Chapter 23

Athrun awoke as he felt the cold wooden floor against his back. Athrun found himself on the floor next to the bed, he assumed that he fell out while asleep the night before. He found Cagalli with him on the floor still asleep. "Hey Cagalli." Athrun tried shaking her awake, "Cagalli." Athrun continued, after a minute or two of trying to shake her awake, he gave up. Athrun picked Cagalli up and gently placed her on the bed covering every bit of her slender body with the thick blankets. Athrun took a short peek at the time; "Only 06:23!" Athrun tried shaking himself wide open. Athrun decided to prank Kira and Lacus to keep his mind occupied from boredom. As he approached Kira's apartment, he saw his mothers figure standing down the dark hallway, Athrun gawked before rubbing his eyes. As soon as Athrun opened his eyes, the figure disappeared in the shadow of darkness. Athrun ran around the floor looking desperately only to find empty hallways.

Athrun decided to get more sleep. He laid down next to the sleeping beauty knowing that sleep was the best thing to do to cure temporary hallucinations. Almost immediately, he fell asleep with a few blinks hazed and dazed in a foggy world unknown.

"_Athrun." Athrun heard is name being called out echoing as if they were echoing off of walls. Athrun found himself walking around an endless field of grass around him. The foggy backdrop prevented decent visibility, "Athrun." a familiar woman's voice was calling. Athrun wandered around trying to follow the voice that was calling on him. "Athrun." a hand was gently placed from behind on Athrun's shoulder. Athrun turned around to meet his mother for the first time in years. "Mother…" Athrun gasped in complete disbelief and shock with widened eyes. His mother's face resembled that of an angel shining like the sun in a dark, misty place. To see her emerald green eyes again was enough to bring Athrun to his knees. _

"_Athrun, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you when I should have." his mother said regretfully, "Please mother, you don't have to explain." Athrun pleaded, "No Athrun, I do. The Naturals never started the war, Gilbert Durandal bombed his own targets to find an excuse to invade others at the time of his most powerful." Athrun's mother said, "When I found out about it, I personally confronted Durandal and I threatened to tell the public, however he killed me before I could leave. He then told you and your father that I died while inspecting naval ships when the Naturals bombed them." Athrun's mother explained, "Durandal was fighting purely for wealth, power and conquest. You have to expose this otherwise the Naturals and Coordinators alike will continue to hate each other no matter who wins and who loses this war. Wars like this will always flare up one after the other until one race is completely annihilated." Athrun's eyes lit up, his pupils contracted hearing this. "I have to go now Athrun, in the meanwhile, take extreme caution this week and Cagalli seems to be such a nice girl, you take care of her now."_

Athrun opened his eyes and now wide awake to the noise of vehicles and troop movement outside. The shout for medics was alarmingly loud. As Athrun slowly got up rubbing his eyes, he saw that everyone was running around in disarray. Cagalli was standing at the window and curiously peeking outside. "Morning." Athrun said still a bit groggy, "It's about time that you got up." Cagalli complained, "When did you get up?" Athrun asked, "Several minutes ago." Cagalli said paying close attention to the troop movement outside, "What's going on?" Athrun asked looking at the bodies of two men outside a liquor store, "Dunno, I was waiting for you to get up so we can both check it out, commander." Cagalli said, "No need, Kira's there already." Athrun said pointing at Kira standing in the midst of the scene, "Oh come on, I wanna see." Cagalli pleaded, "Fine, just don't make any trouble. Let's go." Athrun sighed.

The medico's took the bodies of the two dead MP's away, both covered in a silk sheet that the reserve chutes were made of. The liquor store's windows were shattered and the place was looted of its alcoholic substances. The owner of the store was complaining and ranting, waving his arms around at Kira non-stop over his store. "Hey Kira." Athrun waved, "Not now Athrun, I'm busy." Kira replied looking rather agitated, "What's going on here?" Athrun asked, "We think that some replacement broke into this liquor store and cleaned out all the good alcohol. He left all the cheap ones behind." Kira explained. The medic: Dearka approached Kira, "Kira, I mean… sir. Here's one of the bullets. It's a 9mm, just like last night." Dearka said handing Kira a sample, "It can't have been our own men. We have the .45cal or the .30cal for small arms weapons." Kira examined, "If you didn't notice Kira, many of the men have these pistols that fire 9mm bullets as souvenirs." Dearka dismissed his idea, "Alright men, find all the men that have any P-38's or MP40's. Search every barracks and HQ top to bottom for any signs of alcohol." Kira ordered, "Find that drunken trooper and place him under arrest!" Kira continued in a harsh tone.

Hours of searching led nowhere. Out of the 221 soldiers and MP's in the town, 53 of them had guns that fired the 9mm bullets. None of them had any alcohol and none of them were replacements. "Where is the Colonel?" Kira asked, "He's already left town sir." a corporal replied, "Damn it to hell!" Kira shouted in anger slamming his fist against a wall. An MP approached Kira in a hurry, "Sir, we found another dead trooper, we found an empty bottle of whisky cracked next to him. He also had three 9mm bullets stuck in him." the MP runner said in a hurry, "Where did you find the body?" Kira asked, "About half a mile away from here." the MP replied, "If that's all, you're dismissed." Kira said quietly. Kira called for Shinn, "How long have you been in this Company Shinn?" Kira asked, "Shortly after America decided to be a part of the war." Shinn replied, "Has there ever been a situation like this before?" Kira asked, "Yes there was once, one drunken replacement shot an officer and a couple of civilians, luckily none of them died, but they were all seriously wounded." Shinn recalled, "How did the Colonel handle the situation?" Kira asked for advice, "Nothing, the MP's arrested him and took him to the court marshal before he knew about it." Shinn explained, "That's perfect." Kira said with sarcasm.

The whole town felt uneasy along with a good portion of the soldiers occupying the town. The civilians were advised to lock their doors and stay inside before dark. Everyone in the town was stunned, five men dead in two nights. A sporadic search continued for hours. Men with P-38's and MP40's were questioned and their rooms were searched thoroughly, but with no trace that led to any arrests. Athrun and Kira were having hard times dealing with the situation. "This is just great Athrun. Five men dead, the civilians are shaking off their boots, the Colonel will kill us once he finds out and it just doesn't seem to stack up somehow." Kira said, "Maybe it's not a replacement… maybe it's not even our own soldiers at all." Athrun suggested, "It has to be our own men, why else would the liquor store had been looted?" Kira explained, "Don't worry too much about it Athrun, as soon as the others move out of this town by tomorrow, there won't be anymore attacks. If there is, then we will know that it must be either the remaining men of the 4th platoon or one of the remaining MP's." Kira said, "That's when we crack down on the trooper and making an arrest will be much easier." Kira strategized, "I suppose." Athrun replied, "In the meantime, let's concentrate on finding this guy." Kira said.

Back in the apartment of General Zala, "You called for me sir?" Rey asked, "Did you hear about the killings of the 5 men over the past 2 days?" General Zala asked, "I have sir. And if you want to know if I did it or not, I didn't and I don't suspect Lunamaria to have done it either." Rey replied, "Whoever's killing those men, they're creating suspicion." General Zala said angrily, "Sir, they think it might have been a drunken replacement." Rey said taking a seat, "Good… how's your mission going?" General Zala asked, "So far, I've scoured dozens of weapons, unfortunately some of them are old 19th century rifles and I've managed to gather about seven formerly disbanded ZAFT soldiers that all know how to shoot." Rey said, "That's excellent, Keep up the good work." General Zala praised, "What of Lunamaria?" General Zala asked, "She's gathered a combined total of twelve formerly disbanded ZAFT soldiers and new recruits that only know the basics and I'm not sure about the supplies that she has acquired sir." Rey said, "That's more than I expected from you two, keep up the good work, you may go now." General Zala dismissed.

Athrun, Kira, Dearka, Shinn and Yzak all decided to take a long break while the girls all went their separate ways. Most of their time was spent playing poker at the HQ and gambling their spending money and other items. Athrun and Yzak were left while everyone was out. Athrun had more money to bet on, so Yzak had no choice but to put his watch on the line. "Alright I'm all in." Yzak said, "I'm gonna make you go all in by adding my watch to the value here." Yzak said yanking his silver plated watch off, "I'll take that." Athrun said without any facial expression and shoving his stockpiles of money to the centre of the table, "So what have you got?" Yzak sniggered, "Three Kings." Athrun placed his cards down, "Hah! I win! I got a straight." Yzak yelled in joy, "Don't get too happy, I also have a pair of jacks… looks like I win." Athrun giggled taking out a cigarette and placing it between his small lips, "Oh well, better luck next time." Athrun mocked, "Damn you! Hope you choke and go to hell!" Yzak exploded while everyone around hysterically laughed, "Oh and don't forget Yzak," Athrun said, "People that come 2nd place are the first losers." Athrun continued mocking Yzak lighting his cigarette and taking a quick puff; everyone laughed even harder at this remark. Yzak was less than pleased however.

"There isn't much to do in this town. Ever since we got moved away from Paris, everything's just been so damn boring." Cagalli complained sitting on the bench with the rest of the crew, "Don't be so negative about things Cagalli, look on the bright side, it's not that cold anymore." Lacus smiled as usual, "Easy for you to say. Dearka is a complete idiot." Miri stated, "He's not that bad, at least he jokes around." Lacus replied, "But he never takes things seriously. He says one thing and then the next second, he tells me that he's only kidding. It's been like that ever since I met him." Miri complained, "If you want to talk about someone serious, just look at Shinn." Stellar said in a plain expression, "What's wrong with him?" Cagalli asked curiously, "His parents were killed during a battle, luckily his sister survived." Stellar sadly recalled, "Say, where is his sister anyway?" Cagalli asked, "The Colonel decided to look after her until we are discharged from the army." Stellar said, "That's good, Kira was thinking about looking after her, but the way he cooks, Mayu would only be tasting charcoal." Lacus joked as everyone else giggled, "Kira is sooo cute." Lacus smiled with a slightly blushed face, "Kira? Cute?" Cagalli remarked in disbelief, "All these years that I've been around him, I've never thought that he was cute, only annoying and an idiot of a brother." Cagalli retorted, "That's because you're siblings, that's different." Lacus replied.

"So tell us about you and Athrun." Stellar asked Cagalli with clasped hands eager to hear, "Oh yes do tell." Miri agreed, "About what?" Cagalli jumped embarrassingly, "About everything." Lacus replied, "You know what, that's a bit personal." Cagalli remarked, "Come on Cagalli, you know you can tell us. We always keep our secrets in this group; it's called gossip." Miri assured, "Alright, I'll tell you all about it." Cagalli sighed. Several minutes of explaining left Cagalli almost breathless as she had so much to tell about and little time to do so, "That's so sweet." Stellar smiled, "Dearka would probably run and hide behind a tree or something if bullets started flying." Miri complained, "He's a good medic though." Miri admitted, "We better get outta here, it's getting dark and we don't wanna get in that killer's way." Cagalli spooked out, "I almost forgot about that." Lacus said to her surprise, "I brought a pistol with me just in case." Stellar said taking out her colt .45 to show everyone.

General Zala climbed to the top of his building fixing a Mauser sniper rifle to the top just as dusk settled in the town, "A replacement huh?" General Zala evilly grinned looking down his scope stalking and looking for targets. General Zala found one target in his sight, someone that he despised greatly. He put a finger on the trigger itching to shoot his chosen target. However, he realized that he'd be making a big mistake as the shootings of the other nights had used 9mm bullets while his sniper rifle only fired the 7.92mm rounds. So if he had shot and a 7.92mm bullet was found, it would raise suspicion and alert more troops to the town on a crackdown of every house. He had to let it go unless he found a 9mm sniper rifle which didn't even exist to his best knowledge. "Damn it!" General Zala whispered under his breath watching Cagalli and her friends go by.

When the girls got back to the HQ to see how their boy's were doing, to their horror they found Yzak running out of the HQ towards his apartment with only his underpants on, the laughter of the boys next door were endlessly loud and could be heard from almost a mile away, "What's going on?" Miri asked while the boys were still hysterically laughing loudly almost in tears, "Why is Yzak naked?" Cagalli asked. When Kira stopped laughing, he explained, "Well, Yzak couldn't handle losing to Athrun, so he bet on his clothes as a substitute to try and beat Athrun, but he ended up losing them." Kira laughed, the whole room erupted with laughter. Miri gathered girl around the room and whispered: "Hey girls, lets do something fun." Miri smirked, "Do what?" Stellar asked, "These boys think they're so hot when it comes to poker, so why don't we show them?" Miri stated, "Let's play strip poker with these boys." Miri smirked, "What? That's insane; Athrun's the hotshot around here." Cagalli remarked, "Kira's good but not great and Shinn looks like an amateur to this game." Miri protested in whisper, "So Athrun, Dearka and Kira are the hotshots and you're the only hotshot here." Cagalli complained, "I think we should." Lacus said unexpectedly, "I don't mind either." Stellar said plainly, "Alright then we'll do it." Cagalli sighed in defeat.

All the boys were smirking and laughing thinking that they were going to get an easy win over their female counterparts. The girls were on a roll, however, little did they know that the boys had cheated by putting double the amount of clothes on. Hours into the game, the girls were down to their undergarments, "Looks like we're gonna win." Athrun said with a grin, "You know what?" Miri said instead of asking, "We go all in." Miri said, "The boys all got together and devised a plan, "Alright, if we win this round you girls have to take off all your remaining clothes, not that you have much anyway. But we're gonna do you girls a favour. If we lose, we boys will have to take our clothes off too, the whole lot of it down to our socks." Dearka confidently termed.

"Looks like we don't have a choice then." Miri accepted, "However, there is a catch, if we win, then each of you girls have to do your boyfriends a favour tonight." Athrun smirked, "That's cruel." Shinn said, "It's a good deal though. It's called negotiating." Athrun said to Shinn, "Fine, whatever." Cagalli said grumpily, "So what have you girls got?" Dearka asked excitedly, "No, you tell us what you boys got since you're the ones who proposed the deal." Cagalli said, "There is a saying called: 'ladies first'." Athrun smartly replied, Cagalli was less than happy, "Athrun, if you don't go first, this deal is closed!" Cagalli dangerously threatened, "Oh fine, it's not like it's going to make a difference anyway." Athrun said gathering all the boys to see who had the best hand, "We have a flush." Dearka smirked neatly laying down the cards in a cool fashion, "Fucking damn it!" Miri slammed her hands on the table, "The best I have is three Queens." Cagalli said in defeat, "Close enough, I got a straight." Lacus said laying her cards down gently, "Looks like you girls will have to take them clothes off right now." Dearka smirked even more. To Cagalli's amazement; "Lacus, that's not a straight, it's a straight flush." Cagalli pointed out in disbelief not believing their luck. All the boys stared in surprise and could say nothing, "We win!" Stellar yelled as the girls yelled with her in victory, "Alright boys, time for you to take those things off right now." Miri demanded as the boys nervously and slowly prepared to be embarrassed even further.

"Alright guys, on the count of three, let's pull our pants down at the same time." Kira said quietly as they prepared to take their last 'line of defense' off to expose their 'steel tanks'. As they counted down to three, the boys all pulled their pants down. As the girls cheered and pointed, a junior officer came in and to his horror found his commanding officers in front of him naked; the boys quickly pulled their pants up dashing to the room next door as the girls hysterically laughed under the circumstances still leaving the junior officer scratching his head in confusion.

As soon as a mutual understanding was established with the junior officer, good news awaited for them. "Sir, we just caught the soldier who killed those five men over the last two nights sir." the junior officer said, "His buddies saw him dumping the stacks of alcohol he stole and burying the P-38 that he had used. We sent him to the court marshal sir." the junior officer explained, "Very good, next time remember to knock before you come in." Kira said embarrassingly. As soon as the junior officer left: "What did I say?" Kira rhetorically asked, "Everything would be alright." Kira brightened up as Athrun and the others rolled their eyes, "Never heard you say that before." Athrun said, "Neither have I." Cagalli supported Athrun's statement, "I guess tomorrow, we'll have the whole town to ourselves then huh?" Dearka asked, "Babysitting a town is pretty hard. We have to provide them with food as their occupiers, deal with their criminal affairs that affect us, provide them protection and so forth." Athrun explained, "You know boys, since you gave us girls such a good time, we'll do you a favour tonight even though we won." Miri said while Cagalli tried to persuade Miri to take back what she said, "Okay it's a deal." Athrun quickly said while the others approved with nodding heads. Cagalli whispered to Miri: "You're nuts! If anything they should be doing us a favour." Cagalli whispered, "Calm down, we need to appease them from the embarrassment. Boys just can't handle their dignity and pride being damaged." Miri explained smartly, "Their dignity and pride better be worth it." Cagalli whispered back.


	25. Chapter 24

**I'm really sorry that I didn't update so soon, my internet was down for a hell of a long time and I just couldn't submit until it went back online. Again I am really sorry!**

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The sound of scores of running tanks, jeeps, trucks and hundreds of men were buzzing with activity at the outskirts of the town as the soldiers started clearing their way out of the town. The tracks of the vehicles and footprints on the road covered with snow were heavy with activity, as the people remaining watched everyone else leave the town; perhaps temporarily. The dozens of remaining troops covered themselves with extra layers of clothing as most of them were already smoking. Poor Shinn was craving for a smoke, but Stellar was less than willing to let Shinn continue smoking and would not continue to let him get further addicted to it, so therefore Stellar took all his and her cigarettes and decided to use all of them to trade with; preferably on the goods and services needed for the wedding this week. There was such a high demand for American and British cigarettes that a whole packet would get them dinner for two at the most expensive restaurant in the town.

Everyone remaining in 4th platoon rounded up all the cigarettes they could spare in order to barter for the goods and services for the wedding; a fair amount cash was rounded up just in case no one wanted to barter with cigarettes. The minister of the local church agreed to wed the two couples for four packets of cigarettes; two from each couple luckily enough. The wedding was planned to start in three days at the church where an old picket fence surrounded the area littered with large gravestones and monuments to martyrs and deceased priests from the 19th century.

Athrun had wandered off looking around town in the winter cold weather rather smug in his layers of comfortable, cozy, woolen jackets. As Athrun was strolling around, a music store attracted his attention. The sound of music ringed lyrics in Athrun's ears drawing him closer to the store. A person playing the flute; little did he know that the person playing the flute was none other than Cagalli herself. There was more to her than meets the eye. Athrun would have thought that someone as tomboyish and as aggressive as Cagalli would be the last person in mind to ever play something as graceful. She played a graceful and yet a sorrowful tune, she had seemed to be at peace with herself as the music calmed her stress and lightened her burden of facing reality. Cagalli played with her eyes closed as if she had never cared about the environment around her.

Athrun slowly walked into the store where the owner was busy behind the daily papers. Athrun grabbed a violin; something that he played exceptionally well and slowly played the same tune as Cagalli playing at the same beat. Cagalli opened her eyes and turned around in surprise, "Athrun!" Cagalli shrieked, "Are you stalking me?" Cagalli accused angrily, "Now why do you think that?" Athrun asked with a slight smirk, "I'm warning you Athrun, keep stalking me and I'll make sure that you will not have sex for another month." Cagalli threatened, "I wasn't stalking or following you Cagalli… honest to God." Athrun proclaimed his innocence. The owner flinched as he heard the: 's' word. "Alright, I believe you… so what are you doing here?" Cagalli asked, "I was just walking by and I saw you playing." Athrun explained, "I didn't know that you played any instruments." Athrun stated, "The high school I went to years back made music a compulsory subject, so my music teacher made me play the flute." Cagalli explained, "You play nicely. The music you play sounds natural and flows quite well with your solos." Athrun complemented, "Thanks…" Cagalli blushed with a slight smile. Athrun played a short but memorable piece of his own on the violin. A quick yet elegant sound was produced as Athrun quickly and speedily drew his bow back and forth on the strings. "That was great Athrun!" Cagalli praised, "I'm getting out of here, how about you?" Athrun asked; Cagalli nodded in reply and held Athrun's hand out of the store.

Athrun and Cagalli were walking hand in hand down the main, busy streets. Dearka and Miriallia were looking around the stalls, shopping for clothing for the upcoming wedding. "Dearka, Dearka." Miri prodded Dearka, "Isn't that Athrun and Cagalli." Miri pointed at the two who were cheerily strolling down the streets, "Oh my God! They're holding hands." Dearka pointed out, "Of course they are you idiot, they've been sleeping with each other for the past couple of weeks." Miri stated, "Oh snap!" Dearka smirked, "Let's follow them." Miri said walking towards Athrun and Cagalli, "Hold up Miri, hey hang on." Dearka shouted.

"So what are you doing this morning?" Athrun asked, "I dunno, I guess I'm just gonna be lazy and just sleep it off until the afternoon or something." Cagalli shrugged, "How about later on, I take you out to a place up North on a little journey?" Athrun suggested, "Are you asking me out for a date?" Cagalli teased, "I suppose so." Athrun said, "So where is this place of yours?" Cagalli asked, "Can't tell you yet, it's a surprise." Athrun smiled, "Alright, first I think you better check how Kira's doing and then we'll go to this place of yours." Cagalli suggested, "Hold it." Cagalli thought, "How are we gonna get there? I'm too lazy to walk." Cagalli said, "I'm going to 'borrow' an army jeep." Athrun smirked, "Charming." Cagalli laughed.

As Dearka and Miri were behind them, they couldn't help but to overhear their conversation from popping between people, "Isn't that sweet? Cagalli's going on a date." Miri smiled, "So? What's so special about them?" Dearka shrugged, "Shut up. Let's just keep following them." Miri said out loud. Athrun distinguished the tones behind and whispered: "I think Dearka and Miriallia are spying on us, don't turn around, let's catch them red handed." Athrun said. Athrun and Cagalli both took a turn into a smaller street, as Dearka and Miriallia tried following, they were met by Athrun and Cagalli sitting on a bench in front of them around the corner, "Fancy meeting you two here." Athrun smiled.

While Dearka and Miri explained themselves, Cagalli was looking almost furious with her arms crossed with impatient, tapping feet while Athrun had a regular expression shown. "So Dearka." Athrun said, "No one ever sees you or Miri anywhere in the evenings, where do you two go?" Athrun asked, "Somewhere up North… can't tell you, it's a secret." Dearka said, "Is that the same place you're taking me Athrun?" Cagalli asked as Athrun flinched slightly, Dearka and Miriallia looked surprised, "You know that place?" Miri asked curiously, "I know about it, but she doesn't… it's a surprise." Athrun said, "I can't wait," Cagalli said excitedly.

Back at HQ, Kira was having a miserable time with reports and paperwork. He was supposed to be shopping for his suit for the wedding, but with all the work he had he couldn't leave. As soon as Athrun came in: "Where the hell have you been?" Kira asked agitatedly, "Taking a walk around town." Athrun replied, "Maybe if you helped me with the paperwork, we could have left two hours ago." Kira complained, "Fine, I'll help." Athrun grabbed the nearest chair and taking a seat, "But I have to warn you, Cagalli's expecting me in thirty." Athrun grinned, "So?" Kira said, "So, that means that I'm going on a date in thirty minutes." Athrun pointed at his watch, "Then you have thirty minutes to finish all that paperwork." Kira pointed at the desk beside him with a whole stack of documents, "That's manageable." Athrun blinked slightly, not very surprised by his share of the workload.

Athrun finished his workload in a staggering twenty minutes, which left Kira stunned by Athrun's efficiency and swiftness. On top of that, Athrun had time to prepare for his date. Back at the apartment, Cagalli and Miriallia were having an argument, "Cagalli, wear a dress for Pete sake, you're a girl." Miri argued, "In this weather?" Cagalli shot back, "No way, I'm not freezing my ass of just for a date." Cagalli continued, however Miri was less than willing to let Cagalli's tomboyish ways get the better of her, "I have a dress that is perfect for winter and will leave Athrun drooling over you." Miri said going into her closet picking out a thick, turquoise dress with a long skirt overhanging from its side, glittering with small specks of what seemed to be miniature silver sheets stuck underneath the linen. Cagalli thought again, "So Miri, how warm is this thing?" Cagalli asked with a slight slant of approval, "Warmer than those army jackets." Miri replied, "Alright, I'll try it just this once." Cagalli said, "Good, you won't regret it." Miri assured.

Athrun 'borrowed' an army jeep, but it had almost depleted fuel. All other jeeps were taken by the MP's on patrol. Since Athrun couldn't be bothered refilling the jeep, Athrun 'borrowed' an army motorbike instead. Athrun revved up the engines in front of Cagalli's apartment to indicate that he was ready. As Cagalli made her way out, it was as if Athrun was seeing an angel right in front of his eyes, Cagalli's hair was tied up in an angel like way, and to top it off, her dress made her seem like an angel from heaven as the light shone and sparkled off of her dress glittering in the bleak sunshine. As Cagalli jogged up she was surprised by the least to see a motorbike, "What happened to the jeep?" Cagalli asked casually, "…" Athrun remained silent, gawking at the sight of his angel, "Athrun, Athrun!" Cagalli shouted, "Huh?!?!" Athrun snapped out of his little trance, "You were supposed to reply dummy." Cagalli laughed, "Sorry, you just look so… sexy." Athrun stated in a deep tone, Cagalli blushed a deep crimson red, "Wh-whatever, let's just go already." Cagalli said hopping onto the back of the motorbike behind Athrun, "Hang on this is gonna be a bumpy ride." Athrun said gently accelerating.

After passing MP roadblocks and security, the two made it outside a private driveway concealed and hidden in overgrown vines and trees covering the entrance, it was a place that seemed unwelcoming and eerie. Darkness was the only thing visible down the tunnel-like entrance. "I don't like this Athrun, maybe we should just go back." Cagalli said having second thoughts about the place Athrun was leading her into, "Trust me, you'll love this." Athrun smiled grabbing Cagalli's hand. The eeriness of the tunnel was enough to spook the living daylights out of anyone. Athrun was undeterred by it however. He just kept leading Cagalli though towards the end of the tunnel ignoring the external environment around them. Time seemed to pass very slowly every second they were in the tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel was an endless field covered in an array of colourful flowers and uncommon, unseen fruits. Common animals were roaming around freely in peace as the sunshine illuminated the entire place. The skies were crystal, clear blue and not a spot of dark cloud or winter weathering was present in such a place. Pure, gentle rivers flowed as even the predators and prey seemed to live in harmony. Cagalli did not believe her eyes; she continued staring at the beauty of such a place. "What is this place?" Cagalli asked spinning around, "This is the lost garden of Eden." Athrun replied. Cagalli stared at Athrun, "This can't be… it's just… a myth." Cagalli said unbelievingly, "Come with me." Athrun said, as Cagalli followed, Athrun led Cagalli to the wall near the tunnel exit. Athrun pointed towards an inscription carved on the wall of gold; it was in an ancient text, at this point Athrun translated for Cagalli: _"Those who have the purist of intentions may be able to enter this holy ground on which you stand, if the heart is not seen to be purged of its sins, God shall smite the trespassers. Those who pledge loyalty may leave in peace." _This is what was literally translated, "What does that mean?" Cagalli asked, "Since you had a pure heart with good intentions, you allowed you to pass." Athrun said, "I get that, but what does that last sentence imply?" Cagalli asked confusedly, "It means that you basically swear that this place will be kept a secret on the holy leading out of here." Athrun explained, "How did you find about this place?" Cagalli asked. Athrun took a long breath in preparation to explain how this place came to pass.

Back when the ZAFT took control over the area a less than two years back:  
(_Flash back)_

_Athrun and his squad of four men were patrolling outside a nearby town in the middle of the dark. With their weapons at hand, marching around the town's perimeter, a man cloaked was spotted suspiciously. One of Athrun's men shouted: "Halt!" _

_Suddenly, the cloaked man dashed down a dusty road adjacent to the main road and with the cover of opposite trees all lined in an equal row, "I said: Halt in the name of Durandal!" the soldier yelled once more before he started shooting with his rifle, taking short pops at the target, either missing all shots or hitting the trees used as cover, "That's enough private, let's just chase him down!" Athrun ordered and started chasing this man with his squad._

_After a couple of minutes of pursuit, the cloaked runner made for a tunnel hidden by large vines and natural barriers concealed in an unsuspecting area next to a sheep farmers property. Athrun and his squad waited outside the entrance, "What now sir?" one soldier asked waiting for orders, "Follow with caution, this could be an ambush." Athrun said loading his MP44 assault rifle. _

_As everyone entered, the darkness and eeriness was what spooked the men the most. As the squad lined in single file to get across to the other side… one man dropped to the ground without a sound. As one soldier checked up on him he bewilderedly announced that: "He's dead!"_

_Everyone was shocked to hear these words, without any gunshots, "He must have a silenced Luger." Athrun claimed. But as everyone continued moving forward another one dropped dead, "Oh my God, this place is cursed, let's let out of here now!" a soldier said dashing back to the entrance… only to find himself dropping dead. "Move forward men, he must be captured and trialed for this." Athrun said being skeptical of the situation. Athrun and his two other survivors moved forward very nervously. As they moved another couple of steps, the third soldier dropped down lifelessly as Athrun and his other soldier started shaking this time. "Oh my God, oh my God, we're gonna die!" the last soldier yelled with pure fear. "Let's just sprint forward." Athrun said dashing as fast as he could at the end of the tunnel with the soldier behind him sprinting without his weapon and his eyes closed. A few seconds later, they were at the end of the tunnel. _

_The cloaked figure was at the end to greet Athrun and the surviving soldier with him. Since the soldier had his eyes closed while sprinting, he tripped over and hit his face, "Ah my nose!" the soldier yelled. Although it was night time, this place had pure sunshine and azure blue skies in the middle of daytime. "Where is this place? What is this place?" Athrun asked gazing at the natural beauty and pureness of such a place, to him, this truly was Heaven on Earth, the same applied for the soldier who seemed to forget the pain of his nose. "This is the Garden of Eden." the man stated out loud. (End flashback)_

"So that's how I found out about this place." Athrun said going back to the time a few years back, "So what did you say in your reports and all about the patrol? You know… about the guys who died when they were trying to pass through the tunnel place?" Cagalli asked curiously, "Me and the other soldier sprayed them with a couple of bullets and filed a bogus report of an ambush by some highly trained resistance fighters." Athrun said, "Wait, I thought the Garden of Eden was supposed to be in Israel or something." Cagalli said, "Why is it here in Europe?" Cagalli continued asking, "I can't explain it, but… it's everywhere and it's… nowhere." Athrun tried explaining, "You get what I mean?" Athrun asked, Cagalli shook her head in reply, "I guess it sorta means that; it's not the location that matters, it's the spiritual value of the location." Athrun said, "Oh I sorta get it." Cagalli said, still mildly confused, "Let's take a walk and hopefully I'll explain it in a way you'll understand." Athrun said holding Cagalli's soft hands.

After about a half-hour of strolling around in paradise: "I have to keep this place secret because?" Cagalli asked, "If you do, the spiritual energy in this place will be lost and will become corrupt, so if that happens, the Garden of Eden will find another hidden location in any place in the world, that tunnel would probably cave in and this place would no longer exist." Athrun explained, "Oh and you have to keep it secret otherwise you will be punished and probably killed mysteriously." Athrun said casually, "Oh." Cagalli shortly replied with some shock and worry, "We should go now Athrun." Cagalli said softly enjoying the heavenly winds that passed tickling the soft skin as it went, "Yeah, Kira probably would rip the town apart looking for us." Athrun said smiling.

While Athrun and Cagalli were speeding back to town on the motorbike, "I can't believe Dearka and Miri know about that place." Cagalli shouted, "They don't, they most likely and very certainly thought that I was taking you to a hotel on the same route just a couple of miles up further." Athrun shouted back, "Oh okay." Cagalli replied as the winter wind seemed to be shredding past her whistling a low and negative tune unlike the winds of the paradise they were leaving.

As soon as Athrun and Cagalli got back to the Company HQ, they were met by a flaming Kira. Athrun and Cagalli hopped off, Athrun was quick to spot Kira's dissatisfaction, "Hey Kira." Athrun said cheerfully, "Don't 'hey' me!" Kira replied, "Where have you two been for six hours?" Kira asked pointing to his watch, "What? Are you insane or something? We were only out for like… 1-2 hours or so." Cagalli complained, "What? No, you left at around 10:00 and you're back in 16:14, so who's insane now?" Kira yelled. Cagalli was surprised by the least, "So what did you two do exactly?" Kira asked, "Nothing, just sight seeing." Athrun said plainly, Cagalli nodded hastily, "Oh really?" Kira shouted. Out of the blues Lacus came out of the corner, "Kira! Stop it this instant!" Lacus scolded, "…" Kira only remained silent, "If you bother us again Kira, I will get Lacus to stop the wedding!" Cagalli yelled back, "She won't do that right Lacus?" Kira asked, "Cagalli's right, I will stop the wedding if you bother them again Kira." Lacus supported, "Alright I get it already, jeez, don't back me in a corner guys." Kira said backing away.

On the other side of the building, General Zala, contacted Rey by a radio on an unknown frequency: "Get everyone here for Operation 'Snatch', contact Lunamaria and tell her to get everyone here by 12:00 tomorrow." General Zala ordered, "But sir, we are a bit short of manpower." Rey complained, "I don't care, get everyone that's going to be involved in this over here by 12:00 tomorrow!" General Zala hung up.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed! I know I got a little over the top on the Garden of Eden and that, but I just didn't know what else exciting things I could think of. If you did think it was over the top, I don't blame you. Anyway, please continue reading the next chapters, it's almost nearing its end :(**


	26. Chapter 25

Inside a dim, damp, dark, but a rather enormous basement, there were seen about fifty or more men; all of them armed with pistols, rifles, grenades and some with machineguns and panzerfaust anti-tank weapons. General Zala was up at the very front addressing his group with Lunamaria and Rey at his sides. The plan was already made, Operation 'Snatch' was about to begin at any moment.

"Remember you men and women, this is all about destroying a wedding, don't target the civilians." General Zala briefed; everyone nodded not making too much noise and being careful not to alert anyone outside,

"Everyone knows what to do. Everyone get to your position and wait for the signal." General Zala ordered.

Athrun and Kira led the platoon on a 10 mile march, full pack around the countryside roads and back as exercise ordered previously by their superiors. With 70 or more pounds strapped around their backpacks, the march was extremely exhausting as everyone mostly had to march uphill with gravity against them.

"Everyone's gonna love you for this Kira." Athrun said sarcastically to Kira,

"It wasn't my idea, it was the person in charge of the entire division." Kira said,

"You could have taken them on a run around town." Athrun said struggling under the weight of his pack and his equipment,

"I suppose, but this is a much better form of exercise." Kira said puffing heavily,

"Kira, the war is over, do we really need to march full-pack, 10 miles, up these hills and back and in formation?" Athrun questioned,

"They need to keep their discipline until they're discharged; they're soldiers, not boy scouts." Kira stated,

"Good point." Athrun agreed.

(And suddenly a bush Maori popped out going: "Blahhhhhhhhhh!"… just kidding!)

After the long and painful march, everyone was virtually on the ground massaging their aching feet and legs.  
"Ahhhhhhhh, my ass!" one trooper yelled as he tried to cope with the cramp on his ass. Everyone else was sadistically laughing at the sight, it's not everyday that someone screams about his ass.  
"Shinn, Stellar, up front and centre." Kira ordered, the couple dropped their packs and limped to Kira,  
"You're both aware that you have wedding rehearsals this afternoon right?" Kira asked,  
"What!" Shinn and Stellar said in unison,  
"You never even remotely told us anything about that." Shinn said,  
"Oh, sorry, anyway it's this afternoon at 1600 hours." Kira apologized,  
"We haven't even bought our dresses and suits yet." Shinn complained,  
"Don't worry about that, it's just a rehearsal." Kira reassured, "It's not like it's the actual wedding." Kira scratched his head,  
"So how many people are attending?" Stellar asked,

"Just the 4th platoon and a couple of other people." Kira said,  
"Okay, that's cool." Shinn said,  
"Tell everyone to report to the mess facility for platoon lunch at 1200 hours, nothing but cold served K-rations." Kira explained.

Almost everything seemed to be safe now that the war was officially over, the fighting force now was more of an occupation force. Everyone wondered what they would do after they were discharged from the army and sent back home.  
"So what are you gonna do after all this?" Kira asked Athrun,  
"Get some lunch like you said." Athrun said getting changed,  
"No, I meant; when you're discharged." Kira re-corrected,  
"I haven't thought about it, my first thought is to get married with Cagalli." Athrun said casually. Kira didn't react as if he hadn't cared that his best friend would be marrying his sister.  
"Thought about any job opportunities?" Kira asked,  
"Probably request my stay in the army until I have enough money to start my own business." Athrun said, "Oh no!" Athrun suddenly exclaimed,  
"What?" Kira looked in surprise,  
"Come on Kira! I'm a ZAFT member, they'll probably take me as a P.O.W (prisoner of war) instead." Athrun explained,

"Don't worry about that, you can talk to the Colonel and he'll write up bogus documentation about you." Kira laughed,

"What about you? What're you thinking about doing once you're discharged?" Athrun asked,  
"You know, I haven't thought about that. I'll probably just be an employee for Lacus. You know, work at Clyne Motors." Kira explained,  
"Aren't you lucky. You're already set." Athrun stated surprisingly jealously,  
"What say we get some lunch?" Kira said,  
"I'm in." Athrun smiled.

Over lunch at the mess hall facility, only K-rations were dished out, all cooks had left, so everyone had to go through K-rations or buy their own meals down town,  
"Dearka, what are you going to do after you get discharged?" Athrun asked,  
"Thinking about growing my own vineyard somewhere down South." Dearka said swallowing his spoonful of spam,

"Down South where?" Athrun continued asking,  
"New Zealand." Dearka stated,  
"What? Where is New Zealand? Is that somewhere in Spain?" Kira asked,  
"No… you know where Australia is right? It's a country made of two islands just South-East of Australia." Dearka explained,  
"Vineyard huh? That's gonna be a bit tough on your girl isn't it? I mean, maintaining a vineyard is such a backbreaking work." Kira explained,  
"Hey, she's one tough girl. I'll be employing people to do the work for me." Dearka winked with a smile,  
"But you need money to employ them, a lot of disposable income." Athrun slowly stated,  
"Not if you have little Dearka's running around the house working for you, one little Dearka is already on its way right now." Dearka said before realizing his mistake,  
"WHAT!?!?" everyone shouted in unison equally surprised to hear that Dearka made Miriallia pregnant,  
"Miri is pregnant?!?!" Athrun widened his eyes,  
"Oh no _gulp_." Dearka looked around as everyone stared at him in disbelief,  
"You player!" Athrun smirked, as Yzak was also seen smirking,  
"Hey, hey don't tell anyone alright, Miri told me that if anyone found out, she'd leave me bloody, dead and lifeless on the streets." Dearka nervously smiled waving his arms frantically,  
"Sure, we won't tell anyone about it." Yzak said with his fingers crossed under the table and smiling evilly,  
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Dearka asked rhetorically.

After lunch, everyone in 4th platoon that passed Miri gave her a wink or an indirect remark, "How's the bundle of joy?" "Dearka sure is a player." "Congrats."  
Miri became suspicious. "Dearka, we need to talk." Miri said,  
"A-About what?" Dearka answered nervously with a shaky smile,  
"Did you tell anyone about my condition?" Miri cut to the chase,  
"I-I-I uh, what-" Dearka started sweating, however before he could finish:  
"Dearka! Miri! Do you two want to be at the wedding rehearsal?" Kira shouted from a distance,  
"No thanks, we got better things to do." Miri shouted back,  
"Okay." Kira replied before running off.

As Kira caught up with Athrun and Cagalli running slowly towards them: "Hey!" Kira cheerfully greeted,  
"Hey Kira." Athrun replied with a little smile,  
"What are you two up to?" Kira asked,  
"Breathing." Athrun stated while Cagalli giggled at his comment,  
"Ha ha, very funny." Kira said sarcastically, "I was wondering if you two wanted to attend the wedding rehearsals?" Kira asked,  
"Kira, why do you think we want to see a stupid rehearsal?" Cagalli stated coldly,  
"Alright then I'll go, jeez!" Kira said leaving,  
"That's a bit harsh Cagalli." Athrun said,  
"He's used to it, I say that sort of stuff to him all the time." Cagalli said.  
"So did you hear what happened between Dearka and Miri?" Athrun asked casually,

"Hear what?" Cagalli asked curiously; Athrun whispered to Cagalli about what he heard. Cagalli's eyes lit up, "Oh my God!" Cagalli shouted,  
"And it was supposed to be a secret too." Athrun continued,  
"Dearka is such a player!" Cagalli stated, "Listen Athrun, I'm gonna go have a little talk with Miri, you should attend the wedding rehearsal." Cagalli said,  
"Alright, see you later." Athrun said giving Cagalli a quick peck before walking off.

Kira was free of paperwork and any other office work involving paper. He was left with the whole day off due to little M.P activity on border patrols. There were many civilians travelling in and out from every town, some were disbanded soldiers, some were just civilians seeing their families after a long, bitter war.

Shortly after the wedding rehearsal began, pops were heard in the background.  
"Someone's celebrating the end of the war a bit late." Kira teased,  
"That's a lot of Champaign." Lacus stated hearing multiple pops, however, there were a lot of screaming followed after these pops. Everyone was beginning to be suspicious. Suddenly Athrun burst in: "Sniper in the bell tower!" Athrun screamed, "Let's get to the barracks quick!" Kira immediately reacted. Rattles of machineguns and sound of firefights were heard, as soon as Athrun, Kira, Shinn and Stellar sprinted towards the barracks, they saw Yzak's lifeless body covered in a small pool of blood, "Come on Kira, let's just get our weapons and go!" Athrun screamed.

Almost everyone from the 4th platoon made it to the barracks unscathed, "Sir, the MP patrols were ambushed by a large groups of disbanded ZAFT soldiers." one trooper suggested, "Alright, Shinn take a trooper with to inform the M.P's on the western approach of the town, tell them to search and destroy now!" Kira ordered, Shinn loaded and took a random private with him.  
"You!" Athrun pointed at a random trooper, "Take a jeep and inform the Colonel that we're under attack." Athrun ordered,  
"What about the radio?" Kira asked,  
"It's useless now, the radio just went flat." a radioman pointed out,  
"Dearka, treat the wounded as best you can." Kira said,

"Everyone else, search and destroy." Athrun ordered loading his Thompson sub-machinegun.

Athrun, Kira and Stellar decided to go in a group, the bell tower suddenly went off when a bazooka round ripped into its stone wall. The streets were quiet and still as everyone sought shelter indoors. Athrun became concerned: "Kira, first thing's first: we have to hide Cagalli, Lacus and Miriallia." Athrun suggested,  
"Alright, good idea." Kira whispered, "Stellar, try to link up with the M.P's to the west, meet us in the battalion HQ." Kira ordered,  
"Stellar will try her best." Stellar whispered before running quietly off,  
"Let's go Kira." Athrun said.

Five minutes later, Athrun and Kira found that someone had already beat them to the apartment. By the looks of it, a struggle had ensued. Furniture was tipped, chairs lay broken, pots and pans were everywhere. Athrun and Kira became concerned, suddenly: "Kira!" Lacus said coming out of the closet with Miriallia, "Lacus!" Kira replied in relief, to embrace Lacus in a tight hug,  
"Where's Cagalli?" Athrun asked in concern,  
"They-they-they… took her away." Lacus cried,  
"Where?" Athrun asked,  
"I don't know, he was an old man in ZAFT uniform and two other men." Lacus described vaguely. Athrun's eyes lit up in shock and horror while Kira's expression remained the same,  
"Alright, we have to get to battalion HQ about ten minutes from here, everyone ready?" Kira asked,  
"No Kira, I'm going to find Cagalli." Athrun said,  
"Athrun I know how you feel, but we have more important things to do now, we need you now, we can find her later. Saving these civilian's lives are more important." Kira explained,  
"Kira, you don't understand-"  
"No I do understand Athrun." Kira yelled knocking some sense into Athrun,  
"We have to move now Athrun! Kira yelled.

Battalion HQ was untouched, everything was abandoned. Everyone lay waiting for Stellar and the M.P reinforcements from the west. Athrun and Kira could only lay and wait anxiously and helplessly while gunfire had covered the atmosphere.

Darkness started approaching as everyone started to get impatient, the whole HQ was dead silent, the air hung with anxiety.

Shadows were seen quietly running towards the battalion HQ, Athrun and Kira ready their weapons as they could not see if the were friend or foe, "Flash!" Kira shouted readying his Thompson, "Thunder!" Stellar replied as she led a squad of 5 M.P's.

Kira was briefed by the M.P's reports, "We're completely surrounded sir. Our patrols were ambushed at around 1630, we're lucky to have made it out alive. This whole damn place is a battleground, we'll be lucky to escape now." one M.P Lieutenant reported,  
"How many enemy soldiers did you see?" Athrun asked,  
"Where we were, we saw about 17 men." the M.P replied,  
All we have to do is sit tight and let the runner reach the Colonel and he'll bring in some men to relieve us." Kira planned,  
"You mean the runner on jeep sir?" the M.P asked,  
"Uh, yeah, I think so." Kira said,  
"He was taken out sir." the M.P regretfully said,  
"What?" Athrun exclaimed,  
"Enemy roadblocks cut him off, he eventually took an enemy panzerfaust and never made it out." the M.P reported,  
"We'll have to try and escape ourselves." Kira suggested,  
"Sir you won't make it, no one can. They have: machineguns, anti-tank weapons and snipers everywhere… almost everyone is now dead or dying out there." the M.P said, "It's hopeless unless we have heavy armour support." Kira admitted defeat.

Lacus suddenly intervened, "Kira, remember when I told you that I was developing a war machine for you?" Lacus asked, "I developed and built two new tanks and they happen to be here in this town locked in a garage." Lacus smiled,  
"Are you serious?" Kira's eyes lit up,  
"Yeah, come on, I know where it is." Lacus said getting up.

Only five minutes walk took them to the garage, "Here it is." Lacus pointed at a garage chained and locked up, "Anyone got any bolt cutters?" Athrun asked, Athrun got out his pistol and shot the chains off, "Everyone else stay put in the battalion HQ, Athrun and I will try to get to the Colonel." Kira ordered.

As soon as everyone seemed to be out of sight, Athrun and Kira started the tanks up revving the engines. Kira took the lead, they came across many enemy patrols that used everything they could, the anti-tank weapons harmlessly bounced off of their steel tanks, the tank barriers were crushed and in thirty minutes, Athrun and Kira were safely over the lines and towards the north.

"General Zala sir, two enemy tanks have crossed the border to the north." one ZAFT soldier explained, "We're in for one fight trooper." General Zala said,  
"What about the prisoners?" General Zala asked,  
"We only managed to forcibly capture one live enemy soldier, a medic and the civilian that you had captured yourself sir." the soldier said,  
"Good, have you got my interrogation kit ready?" General Zala asked,  
"Yes sir." the soldier replied,  
"Then let the torturing begin."

**Next chapter will take around one week or more, or maybe less.**


	27. Chapter 26

It was only a couple of hours later before Athrun and Kira made it to the next Allied outpost north of the besieged town. At pitch dark, the two tanks were suspicious to most. The two were stopped many times by the border patrols because their tanks were unlike any other type of Allied fighting vehicle ever seen. It took another painful hour of going through security and getting stopped by patrols before Athrun and Kira made it to the division HQ. Athrun and Kira explained to the Colonel that the town was under siege and that most of the forces present were either dead, wounded or was struggling to hold up. The Colonel immediately ordered the deployment of the entire division to the besieged town. Every barracks was scrambled and readied for combat.

In the besieged town, Stellar and the remaining MP's stayed put in the battalion HQ and on high alert. Stellar became worried about Shinn; she couldn't bare the thought of Shinn being killed, not now just before the high point in their lives. The gunfights had long stopped. The night air was hung in silence as every trooper and MP seemed to have been rooted out and disposed of.

"We have to get out of here ma'am. Once the enemy finds out that this is the HQ, we'll be sitting ducks." one MP explained, "Let's move to a more safer and least suspecting place to hide out." he suggested, Stellar however was not convinced,  
"Stellar's sorry, but our orders were to stay put until relieved." Stellar said, sadly. Stellar didn't like this as much as the rest of the MP's; she would much rather be out looking for Shinn. The MP's had no choice but to follow orders.  
"But what if the enemy comes?" the MP insisted,  
"We must hold out to the last bullet and the last man." Stellar softly imposed,  
"Yes ma'am." the MP's silently acknowledged. Lacus and Miriallia were however, taken to a different building for safety.

Dearka was treating Shinn's wound while in the hands of their captors in the local church. Shinn was shot on his left shin and thigh; he was shot while trying to make contact with MP patrols. Dearka was captured while tending to the wounded. Cagalli was still unconscious and lying on the hard concrete floor. General Zala and six other ZAFT soldiers were with him. One ZAFT soldier ran in:

"Sir two unidentified Allied tanks have just escaped to the north sir!" a ZAFT soldier nervously explained,  
"What?!?!" General Zala shouted,  
"You idiots! You have anti-tank weapons, you have tank traps and you were sticking your thumbs up your mouths, how did they escape private?!?!?!" General Zala exploded,  
"S-S-Sir, I-I-I-I don't know s-s-sir." the shaky soldier said,  
"Now reinforcements are going to pour in sweeping us away just because a private and his fellow clowns couldn't stop two clumsy, oafish tanks!" General Zala boomed,  
"Alright then private, tell everyone to abandon their current positions and build defenses around the church NOW!!!" General Zala ordered,  
"Yes s-s-s-sir." the ZAFT soldier saluted, still a bit shaken from General Zala.  
"Everyone, forget about the torturing for now, we have more important things to do. Two soldiers stay guard on the prisoners and the rest come with me." General Zala ordered.

Athrun, Kira and the Colonel were busy making plans up north, while the division prepared for an assault.  
"We cannot move during the night, we could get ambushed for all we know so we don't want to waste any lives." the Colonel suggested,  
"What do you suggest we do Colonel?" Athrun asked desperately,  
"Wait until dawn." the Colonel said, both Athrun and Kira were shocked,  
"I'm sorry boys, but to attack now in the dark, we could lose hundreds to an unseen enemy, I hate it as much as you, but we have to rationalize in a situation like this." the Colonel explained, Kira put his hands on Athrun's shoulder,  
"Athrun, I know how you feel, but he's right." Kira sympathized,  
"Alright then." Athrun said silently.

"Alright then, all MP units will remain behind." the Colonel said.

Three surrendered MP men with their hands on their helmets joined the prisoners. When Cagalli became conscious, Dearka was able to treat Cagalli, however, when Dearka was medically examining Cagalli, to his surprise he concluded that Cagalli was a week pregnant. Dearka gasped silently,

"What?" Cagalli asked curiously,  
"Uh, I don't know how to say this Cagalli but… you're pregnant." Dearka whispered, the news shocked Cagalli giving her chills down her spine. One ZAFT soldier on guard came over,

"You two shut up!" he shouted, pointing his rifle at Dearka,  
"Treat people in silence." the ZAFT soldier ordered. General Zala came into the church with a soldier at his side, "Get as much weapons and ammunition from the enemy weapon stores and barracks as you and your men can handle, I want machineguns set up all around this church perimeter." General Zala ordered, hearing General Zala, Cagalli immediately acted like she was still unconscious.  
"How many Airborne prisoners do we have?" General Zala asked,  
"Only one sir, he's also wounded." the ZAFT soldier on guard answered,  
"Bring him to the table immediately." General Zala ordered,  
"Yes sir." the ZAFT soldier replied.

Shinn was dragged and chained onto a hard wooden table in a different room. His arms and legs chained to the four corners of the table. Shinn was still in pain from the bullet wounds he received.  
"Bring me my kit now." General Zala ordered, almost immediately a soldier handed him a large, wooden box. General Zala took out a car battery and some wires. General Zala strapped the wires around Shinn's limbs and connected it up to the car batteries circuits. "Are you an Airborne soldier?" General Zala asked,  
"Yes." Shinn replied,  
"Name? Rank? Serial number?" General Zala asked,  
"Lieutenant Shinn Asuka, serial number: 14737." Shinn replied,  
"Did you take a part at the siege at the Colditz castle?" General Zala continued questioning,  
"Lieutenant Shinn Asuka, serial number: 14737." Shinn replied back coldly, General Zala switched the power on the battery, the electricity spread around Shinn's body with volts passing, shocking every limb and causing immense pain, causing Shinn to scream,  
"Did you take a part at the siege at the Colditz castle?" General Zala asked again, and again, Shinn's reply was still the same:

"Lieutenant Shinn Asuka, serial number: 14737." General Zala turned on the battery again, only this time increasing the current causing Shinn to scream louder and causing much more pain. The electric shocks continued for 15 agonizing minutes. Shinn answered the same answer every time: "Lieutenant…_cough, cough_ Shinn Asuka… serial number: 14737." Shinn was coughing and vomiting out blood, blood was dribbling down from his mouth. General Zala was not finished with torturing Shinn yet.

General Zala placed the car battery and the wires away. He fiddled around in his torture toolbox looking for another tool, he took out a blade; Shinn could only watch in horror and helplessly as General Zala toyed with him,

"I know that you were part of that siege boy, I know you were part of it." General Zala said cutting Shinn's right shoulder, as the blade cut deep, Shinn screamed in pain while General Zala twisted the blade watching Shinn's blood pour out. General Zala then stuck the blade in the other shoulder twisting as he went, more screaming from Shinn had left every other prisoner horrified in the room opposite. General Zala cleaned the blade and then continued looking for more tools to use, his face turned into an evil grin,  
"Just admit it boy, just say that you were part of the siege at Colditz." General Zala said,  
"…Lieutenant… Shinn Asuka… serial… number: 14737." Shinn weakly replied barely keeping conscious and hardly able to breathe properly with the pain.  
"Alright then boy, you asked for it." General Zala said picking out an electric drill, but before General Zala could insert the drill into any of Shinn's limbs, Shinn passed out,  
"You're lucky boy." General Zala said evilly putting his drill away,  
"Guards!" General Zala shouted, two soldiers immediately came in with a salute,  
"Take him away." General Zala ordered.

Dearka could do almost nothing for Shinn, he could only stitch his deep cuts up, but if Shinn woke up, he knew that Shinn would be in a lot of pain and Dearka had no morphine since he was stripped of his morphine, he was only left with a small aid kit consisting of bandages, disinfectant and iodine. For now, Shinn was unconscious and Dearka could use the iodine now so that Shinn wouldn't feel the pain if he were conscious. Dearka treated Shinn as best as he could. The ZAFT soldiers forced Dearka to treat their own wounded; Dearka was forced to work at gunpoint. However, Dearka did manage to steal back three shots of morphine before he was returned and by that time, Shinn regained consciousness. Shinn was under severe pain; his face was almost as pale as a ghost and was shivering in cold.

Cagalli knew that if Athrun's father had gotten his hands on her, the baby would be in serious jeopardy, most likely be killed. She knew that she had a slim chance of surviving herself and was beginning to give up all hope. The only hope she had is that of Athrun saving her from his evil father. The two soldiers suddenly took Cagalli dragging her away while she struggled; Dearka was quick to protest,  
"No wait, she's pregnant! Don't hurt her!" Dearka screamed, however the soldiers had no remorse, no compassion.

General Zala was seen with a disgusted face just the sight of Cagalli made him disgusted. Seeing Cagalli sleeping with his only son, Athrun had enraged him to the brink of insanity. "You corrupted my only son!" General Zala slapped Cagalli across the cheek,  
"You're wrong!" Cagalli defiantly spat back, "The whole PLANT regime was corrupt that turned Athrun against you." Cagalli said without fear,  
"Denying is all you Natural pieces of trash will ever be good at doing." General Zala slapped Cagalli again,  
"Athrun loves me for who I am, not because of my genetics!" Cagalli shouted, only to have General Zala slapping her again,  
"Don't you dare start little girl!" General Zala shouted,  
"You only hate Naturals because the person that killed your wife happened to be a Natural." Cagalli explained,  
"Leave Lenore out of this!" General Zala boomed. General Zala caught a glimpse of a fine silver ring with a fine ruby stone. General Zala pointed at it shaking his hands in fury, "How the hell did you steal Lenore's engagement ring?!?!" General Zala screamed, "Of course, Athrun gave it to you." General Zala said.

_The day before when Athrun and Cagalli were leaving the garden behind,  
"Cagalli." Athrun blushed,  
"Yeah?" Cagalli raised her brow,  
"I… I love you Cagalli." Athrun said even more softly blushing even harder, Cagalli's face turned tomato red hearing these words, Athrun then slipped on a sliver ring with a perfectly shaped, ruby stone on Cagalli's small, soft finger.  
"This was my mothers engagement ring, I'm sure that she'd like you to wear it." Athrun said, "I-I-I… I love you Athrun, I like you a lot." Cagalli said. Athrun drew is face closer as his lips met Cagalli's lip, as they both engaged in a destined, eternal kiss marking their love for each other._

Cagalli explained the moment to Athrun's father, he seemed to stay in silence for a while. After a minute or two of silence, General Zala came back to reality, "I'll deal with you later… Guards, take her back." General Zala ordered.

Dearka was relieved to find Cagalli unharmed, "Jeez Cagalli, you me biting my nails down to the bone." Dearka said,

"How's Shinn?" Cagalli changed the subject,  
"He's lost a lot of blood, I gave him some morphine to ease the pain that he's in, he seems to be sleeping fine now." Dearka explained,  
"I feel sorry for him." Cagalli said looking at Shinn wrapped in a blanket,  
"What's to be sorry for? He's got a blanket, a shot of morphine, a pack of cigarette once he wakes up… he's as snug as a bug in a mug." Dearka joked.

Athrun, Kira and the Colonel came up with an assault plan in time just as the whole division got armed and ready. "We'll split the division into three groups, one attacks from the north, and the other two from the east and west. After east and west roadblocks are secure, they will encircle the entire town and then eventually close in from the sides, while the north group takes the north and straight down… my guess is that they'll be preparing a last hole defense at this church here, seeing that it's got a tactical and strategic importance." the Colonel planned,  
"What about our columns sir?" Kira asked,  
"You two will be on lead with your tanks in the northern group and you will stop once you get within half a mile radius of the church." the Colonel explained,  
"That's a fine plan, but what if they have hostages?" Athrun asked,  
"That's why I told you to stop within half a mile away from the church, so we can plan our next phase." the Colonel said.

"Alright, be prepared, in a couple of hours, we will be starting the assault!"


	28. Chapter 27

The whole division was waiting for the attack to commence. Only minutes until dawn: Athrun and Kira waited anxiously on their radios inserted in their brand new armoured war machines. The sun was barely up until: "All units attack, I repeat, all units attack." the Colonel's voice sounded on the radio, Athrun and Kira revved their engines and sped forward.

Athrun and Kira proceeded forward past the border without any resistance. Columns of heavy infantry were lined up jogging behind them. Athrun dashed in wildly, while Kira approached the area cautiously. Kira contacted Athrun by radio,  
"Athrun, slow down! I repeat, slow down! The last thing we want is to get ambushed." Kira said rationalizing,  
"Sorry Kira, just worried that's all." Athrun replied,  
"Yeah, I know, so am I Athrun." Kira said slowly,  
"We're nearing the church, remember to stay about half a mile away from it until we get orders from the Colonel." Kira reminded Athrun of the plans made,  
"I know." Athrun replied.

Athrun and Kira stood their ground approximately half a mile away from the church. Athrun and Kira dismounted from their tanks and analyze the surroundings. Every single group faced no resistance at all. The enemy decided to make their last stand in the church area slightly elevated on a light hill. Athrun and Kira both zoomed in with their binoculars looking around the church and its perimeter.

"You see that Kira?" Athrun said pointing to pre-prepared positions: foxholes, trenches, lines of sandbags, tank barriers.  
"I wonder how they did that all in one night." Kira marveled at such efficiency,  
"That church bell tower looks suspicious and it looks like there's a sniper in the… HOLY JENKINS! TAKE COVER!!!" Athrun shouted running around to the back of his tank as all infantry behind scrambled, the sniper's shot only barely missed Athrun by two inches.  
"Holy crap Athrun, we have to take that bell tower out." Kira shouted,  
"We can't just hop into our tanks and blast him out, the sniper will shoot us before we even get in." Athrun said,  
"Someone get a bazooka up here!" Athrun ordered, three soldiers with bazookas slowly crawled up,  
"Can any of you shoot targets that are half a mile away?" Kira asked, no one responded,  
"I need you men to at least try, set up a machinegun to suppress that sniper while you three find a suitable spot to shoot that down." Athrun ordered,  
"Yes sir." the men responded, as the men scrambled off, Kira came up with a backup plan.  
"Athrun, if they can't shoot that target down, we're in deep trouble." Kira stated,  
"So what are you suggesting Kira?" Athrun asked,  
"When the sniper takes his first shot, we quickly hop back into our tanks and blow that bell tower to smithereens." Kira planned,  
"Good plan." Athrun agreed.

When everyone was ready, Kira gave the signal to commence with the plan, a machinegun squad moved to the side, setting up their light 30cal machinegun and started spraying, while the three bazooka men went the opposite sides to find a spot to fire. The sniper fired hitting one bazooka man, Athrun and Kira quickly jumped onto their tanks and jumped inside into the safety of their tanks. Kira was quick to react, aiming his tanks cannon towards the bell tower and then firing. The shot was a direct hit, blowing the bell tower up.

Stellar and the MP's were glad to find their own troops coming in to relieve them at the Battalion HQ. She was still worried about what had happened to Shinn. Stellar and the MP's went out to greet their comrades. Lacus and Miriallia were immediately seen running out. Every other soldier was making their way slowly towards the church and surrounding it once every building was cleared and safe. Other MP's were seen coming out of their hiding places relieved to find their own comrades and not the enemy.

By only half an hour, the whole town had been secured and the church perimeter had been surrounded. The Colonel came to make the preparations for the final destruction of the ZAFT resistance. The Colonel drove down his jeep with a white tag tied onto a pole stuck in the jeep. First, the Colonel went to negotiate their surrender, however. The Colonel sighted the nearest soldier and requested to meet the commanding officer. General Zala came out of the church in formal ZAFT uniform. After formal introductions, General Zala refused to negotiate with the Colonel and demanded for Athrun immediately,  
"I don't care who you are sir, I demand at once that you send Athrun Zala to me immediately." General Zala spat with disrespect,  
"I'm only going to say this once. Give up now, if you do, you will be treated as P.O.W's in accordance to the Geneva Convention. However, if you do not, we will have no choice but to destroy you." the Colonel said,  
"Try and make me surrender." General Zala said,  
"Seriously, you are outnumbered, outgunned and surrounded. The wisest decision would be to surrender." the Colonel suggested in a persuasive manner,  
"Are you going to get me Athrun or not?" General Zala shouted, "I will be happy to trade him for 5 of your captured men." General Zala offered. The Colonel found this a tempting deal, but he had to consult Athrun about it first,  
"You will have my answer in exactly one hour." the Colonel said, both saluted before departing.

The Colonel called Athrun and Kira.  
"Listen here you." the Colonel pointed at Athrun, "I don't know how you feel, but a General in there asked for you, he negotiated that he'd release 4 of our men in there for you." the Colonel said,  
"What, why does he want me?" Athrun asked in surprise,  
"I don't know, he just asked." the Colonel said,  
"Did you get the name of the General?" Athrun asked,  
"I think it was a General Zala." the Colonel reiterated. Athrun's eyes widened in shock, he was sure that his father had died,  
"So do you want to agree to this trade or not?" Kira asked Athrun,  
"…I…I…I…" Athrun couldn't make up his,  
"Athrun, you can't deal with your father, he's dangerous, he's got Cagalli hostage, he's planning something." Kira said,  
"And if I don't give myself up, he'll kill those 4 men and will probably kill Cagalli too!" Athrun shouted back. Kira had no reply to this, and so Athrun faced the Colonel:  
"Colonel, I'll trade myself in." Athrun said,  
"You have one hour to decide, you don't have to be so hasty about it." the Colonel said,  
"I've already made my decision sir." Athrun said sadly as if he wasn't going to make it out alive,  
"Athrun, you can't deal with a person like him." Kira complained,  
"If Lacus was held hostage, what would you do?" Athrun asked hypothetically. Kira was yet again stumped by Athrun.

Stellar eventually made it to the front where the surrounding troopers were standing by for the orders to attack.  
"Loussier, you made it alive." the Colonel said, happier than ever, "But where's Asuka?" the Colonel became worried,  
"Stellar don't know sir, no one has heard from him." Stellar sadly replied,  
"He's either dead, or held as a hostage holed up in that church." Kira suggested,  
"Shinn is not dead." Stellar shot back, taking offense to what Kira said,  
"Shut up Yamato! Asuka's a damn fine soldier." the Colonel also took offense to his statement.

Analyzing the battlefield, the defenses were a network of trenches, foxholes and machinegun nests that resulted in a series of killing zones that proved a serious hazard. An assault had to be made where the prisoners taken hostage would not be risked in any way. This is where tactical improvisation had come handy to the head smart Colonel thinking outside and around the box. However, if the enemy were slightly alert for too long, the prisoners would most probably be executed. On pen and paper the Colonel planned out an assault on the church after an intelligence recon report was given. Almost all fifty were seen outside the church, meaning that only several others were holed up in the church. A master plan was made including: deception, distraction, diversion and destruction against the enemy; a plan that seemed too brilliant to be true.

The hour was up, Athrun was ready to give himself in,  
"Good luck Athrun." Kira said before Athrun entered the jeep,  
"You too Kira." Athrun replied. Athrun was taken on a jeep, disarming himself of any weapons. Athrun was at the church as promised in a jeep with a white cloth.

Meanwhile, in the church room where the prisoners were being held, General Zala walked towards the prisoners,  
"You three, get up." General Zala pointed to the MP's, "You too medic, get up." General Zala continued, everyone chosen by General Zala got up very slowly, "It's your lucky day, you're all going free." General Zala said,  
"Sir, what about him?" Dearka pointed to Shinn, badly injured and looking very pale,  
"So I don't care, he's staying!" General Zala yelled. Dearka could do nothing, he approached Shinn and dropped the remaining two shots of morphine into his breast pocket and whispered into his ear: "If the pain is too much, just give yourself a shot." Dearka whispered before getting up again.

General Zala was out to greet Athrun with the 4 prisoners as promised,  
"Ah Athrun, so glad to see you." General Zala welcomed coldly,  
"Now let them go father." Athrun said gesturing to the prisoners,  
"Alright, off you go you maggots!" General Zala said releasing the prisoners, as Dearka passed Athrun:  
"Good luck Athrun." Dearka said,  
"Thanks." Athrun whispered back. Athrun watched as the 4 prisoners drove away on a jeep while they left him to the mercy of his father,  
"I was meaning to talk to you Athrun." General Zala said with a disgusted face, "Now get inside my boy!" General Zala ordered pointing into the church.

As the 4 prisoners made it to the Colonel, Kira was glad to see Dearka alive and well,  
"Hey Dearka, good to see you." Kira shouted,  
"Sup Kira!" Dearka replied. Unexpectedly, Miriallia came out screaming, the two met with a hug and a couple of tears, "Dearka, I thought you were dead." Miri cried,  
"Me? Dead?" Dearka said, "Not even a truck coming at the speed of light can stop me." Dearka joked,  
"You're such an idiot!" Miri laughed. The Colonel approached the two, "Doc, save that for later, we have more important things to discuss." the Colonel said. Dearka had knowledge of who was still inside and the description of the interior of the church. Dearka explained everything in as much detail as possible,  
"Sir, Shinn is still in there; he was tortured almost to death by that crazy General. I don't think he can survive any longer. He's in a lot of pain and needs medical attention." Dearka blurted out after he answered as many of the questions asked by the Colonel. Stellar overheard in horror,  
"God damn that son of a bitch!" the Colonel said silently, "I swear that I'll kill him myself if Asuka passes away on me." the Colonel blurted,  
"And another thing sir, there is another hostage in there, the princess of ORB, she is pregnant and her child is in serious danger if the General gets a hand on her." Dearka said,  
"What?" Kira yelled, "Cagalli's pregnant?" Kira asked in surprise,  
"I'm afraid so." Dearka said regretfully.

The Colonel had completed the finishing touches of his plan of assault; however there was just one problem,  
"The assault will have to wait until tomorrow at sunrise." the Colonel concluded, Kira was less than happy,  
"Sir, we don't know what General Zala will do to them in there, we have to attack now!" Kira demanded,  
"Captain Yamato I understand how you feel, my best damn soldier: Asuka is being tortured to death in there, but God damn boy you have to use your noodle for once." the Colonel said,  
"Sir, if we wait, they probably won't be alive by tomorrow." Kira complained,  
"That's why we keep stalling them." the Colonel said,  
"Stall? How?" Kira asked curiously,  
"By continuously negotiating with them and offering them fake solutions." the Colonel said,  
"Yes sir." Kira said.

The Colonel gathered all his field commanders together to brief them on the plan.  
"Alright listen up, the enemy defenses around the church consists of tank barriers, trenches, foxholes and sandbags; so a tank assault won't work. They have 6 squads of men equally spaced out with two machinegun squads filling the gaps and with two squads on the rooftop of the church leaving the rest of them holed up in the church of about another squad. So here is the plan." the Colonel devised:

"Just after sunrise, when the sun comes up from the east, I want a diversionary attack on the northern and western flanks of the defenses. Two squads are going to rush the northern trench with grenades while a machinegun squad suppresses the enemy machinegun squad in the sandbags, while the western diversion will have two squads rush the western trench with grenades and suppressing fire. The east will be the real attack. About 6 squads will be in waiting while a machinegun squad suppresses the enemy machinegun nest then rushed by one squad." the Colonel continued,

"Captain Yamato, you will be in your tank firing HE(high explosive) shells into the rooftop continuously; by doing this, the occupiers inside the church will have no choice but to take cover with their heads down, leaving them no choice but to leave the prisoners while trying to find cover." the Colonel said,

"While this is all happening, 5 squads will attack the eastern trench in both sides; since the sun always raises from the east, the two enemy squads will be somewhat blinded by the sunlight meaning they will clear the trench and then quickly encircle the church. Captain Yamato, when you see that our squads are approaching the church you will cease fire while our squads bust down the front and back door, eliminating the enemy inside and rescuing the prisoners." the Colonel planned to perfection. All officers were speechless, the plan seemed perfect… too perfect,

"Any questions?" the Colonel asked, one sergeant immediately stood,  
"Sir, if there are only 3 prisoners, why are we risking the lives of dozens of more men if we can just bombard them without any casualties with the exception of the 3 in there?" the sergeant asked,  
"That is an excellent question. I'll tell you why: if you were in there sergeant, wouldn't you want someone to rescue you?" the Colonel asked,  
"Isn't what we are going to do tomorrow what freedom, honour and justice defines in this world? So you have to tell yourself; what does your heart tell you is right and what is wrong?" the Colonel concluded. Everyone stood silent for a moment and then came thunderous applause from everyone, soldiers that were around to hear what the Colonel had to say all applauded as if he was their hero.

Meanwhile, Athrun was thrown in the room with Cagalli, they were both relieved to see each other again, "Cagalli, I thought for a moment that I lost you." Athrun held Cagalli tightly,  
"Athrun, I can't believe you traded yourself in just to see me again, you're so sweet." Cagalli said with a slight smile, "Athrun." Cagalli called out,  
"Yes Cagalli?" Athrun replied,  
"I have to tell you something." Cagalli said quietly,  
"What is it?" Athrun asked,  
"I'm pregnant." Cagalli stated, Athrun could barely speak,  
"…That's… wonderful Cagalli, but the baby is in danger… you know what father will do to you, and if he does…" Athrun couldn't continue,  
"I know Athrun, I know." Cagalli said, however, General Zala was listening into the conversation from next door almost angered, but something repelled him from being angry and taking the anger out on them.

Almost unaware that Shinn was also listening, "Now I wonder if Stellar's pregnant." Shinn said weakly with a smile, Athrun saw Shinn in pain looking extremely pale and weak,  
"Shinn! By God, what did they do to you?" Athrun said in shock; he had never seen anyone so beat up before,  
"Some General tortured me." Shinn said still in the same weak, quiet tone,  
"Don't worry Shinn, we'll be out of here soon, the Colonel will probably make a deal for our release." Athrun said,  
"Why not assault this place and rescue us?" Shinn asked,  
"This place is defended too well, he wouldn't want to risk our lives. Trust me, one false move and we'll be dead." Athrun stated.

General Zala moved from one room from the next, "Rey, how's the defenses?" General Zala asked,  
"They seem almost impenetrable for an infantry assault sir and I don't think they wouldn't risk bombarding the place." Rey suggested,  
"You're right, they wouldn't." General Zala agreed. Lunamaria came inside quietly,  
"Sir, an enemy officer tried to contact you sir, he said his commander wanted to negotiate, but my squads sent him away." Lunamaria reported,  
"Why the hell did you send them away?" General Zala looked angry,  
"Sir, what might they offer us that we'd accept?" Lunamaria rhetorically asked,  
"Next time they send a negotiator, you send for me, I want to hear their offer." General Zala ordered,  
"Yes sir." Lunamaria said in dissatisfaction.

General Zala decided to listen further into the conversation of the prisoners; he walked slowly up to the door and listened closely. He heard Shinn in pain,  
"Shinn, you alright?" Cagalli asked,  
"Yeah, I'm feeling good, of course I'm not alright, hurts like hell." Shinn tried to yell, but came out as a weak moan, Shinn breast pocket where the morphine is, but the pain on his shoulders restricted him from going in,  
"What are you trying to do?" Athrun asked,  
"There's morphine in my pocket, I need you to get one for me." Shinn said. Athrun reached in and grabbed a shot, however, General Zala burst in calling the guards. The surprised prisoners looked in fear, General Zala snatched the morphine and took the remaining morphine in Shinn's pocket. General Zala then ordered his guards to:  
"Take that boy to the interrogation room." General Zala pointed at Shinn.

**Hope you liked it, next chapter or maybe the one after that: one of the main characters is going to die (T_T)  
Don't worry, that person will die heroically... or maybe not... or maybe of a freak accident... you never know!!!**


	29. Chapter 28

Shinn was being dragged into the interrogation room again by the order of General Zala, the guards came and roughly started dragging Shinn away while Athrun and Cagalli protested,  
"Father stop, he's had enough already." Athrun yelled,  
"Would you rather have your pregnant girlfriend tortured?" General Zala gestured toward Cagalli, for a moment Athrun was surprised that his father had found out, _"He must have overheard our conversation."_ Athrun thought, "I'd rather have nobody tortured." Athrun spat back; after that remark, General Zala give Athrun a right uppercut to the gut winding Athrun badly and leaving him on his knees struggling for air,  
"Any more remarks like that, I will have all of you tortured to death." General Zala said leaving Athrun wincing in pain.

Shinn was once again chained up to the torture table, with General Zala looking around in his torture kit,  
"The pain can end right here, right now. Did you have any part in the siege of Colditz: yes or no?" General Zala asked. However Shinn remained strong and would not give in, especially to a cranky old timer who had nothing better to do that to inflict pain on others. Shinn's reply was dangerous:  
"What are you going to do if I say 'no' you old bag?" Shinn spat coldly, General Zala could only laugh,  
"You're persistent aren't you?" General Zala continued laughing,  
"I'm the one who should be laughing old man." Shinn said, "What happened you old timer? Did you leave your walking stick at home?" Shinn smirked, Shinn then started impersonating the stereotypical old man personality: "On no, look at me, I left my sunglasses at home, I'll just take a nap." Shinn teased. General Zala suddenly stopped laughing,  
"I'll give you something to laugh about boy." General Zala grumpily said before leaving Shinn chained up on the table leaving the room. General Zala was clearly unhappy with they way Shinn humiliated him and decided to make him pay,

"Lunamaria!" General Zala called,  
"Yes sir." Lunamaria replied,  
"There is someone in the interrogation room that needs to be tortured, see to it that you inflict as much pain as possible, but leave him alive so we can torture him again the next day." General Zala ordered,  
"Merry Christmas Lunamaria!" Luna grinned at such a chance,  
"I'm going to be taking a nap." General Zala said ironically,  
"Make sure that the big mouth prisoner in there gets what he deserves." General Zala ordered,  
"It will be my pleasure." Lunamaria said strolling over to the interrogation room.

Shinn was still laughing until Lunamaria walked in,  
"Oh look, it's the whore from 19th street." Shinn teased,  
"That's no way to greet a lady." Lunamaria slapped Shinn, "Too bad a good looking soldier like you will have to suffer now." Lunamaria smiled, "Trust me, I'll savour every last bit of your pain." Lunamaria continued taunting,  
"What a whore." Shinn bullied,  
"Oh, how cute. Pretty boy is a bad boy." Lunamaria said softly, yet also darkly,  
"What do you want?" Shinn said coldly,  
"I want to give you pain!" Lunamaria said darkly,

"Just get it over with already daughter of Satan!" Shinn bullied once again,  
"With pleasure." Lunamaria laughed.

"Do you know what I did to my sister a few years ago?" Luna asked, Shinn didn't care what she had to say,  
"Do I need to know?" Shinn temporarily ignored,

"My sister Meyrin and I, we were working as agents for the PLANT. We both loved to attend these concerts where a great pianist by the name of Nicol played. Now, both Meyrin and I had a crush on this cute guy, one day, it was official that my sister was dating this guy." Lunamaria said,  
"So what I did was that I snuck in weapons and bombs into their room while they were making out, I tipped the secret police about an assassination attempt and the two were caught with the bomb and weapons." Lunamaria continued. This time, Shinn was stuck fully in, listening with interest,  
"The two were scheduled to be executed, however I was given permission to be able to torture them to death." Lunamaria evilly said,  
"So, first, I gave the pianist a quick death, but on the other hand, my sister Meyrin… I never gave her the privilege." Lunamaria said getting out a knife,  
"And I tortured my sister day and night for about three days before she died." Lunamaria continued playing about with her knife,  
"You really are a daughter of Satan." Shinn said coldly,  
"And you're my next victim." Lunamaria said using her blade to cut Shinn's left arm, she then licked the blood off of her blade,  
"You psychopathic bitch!" Shinn yelled,  
"We'll soon we what you have to say later on." Lunamaria said, commencing with the tortures.

Lunamaria put her knife away, instead she pulled out a set of pliers, Shinn prepared himself mentally to try to deal with the pain to come as best as he could. Luna opened the pliers and gripped onto a bit of Shinn's flesh on his arm, she then squeezed as hard as she could twisting and turning on Shinn's flesh; Shinn screamed loudly, blood started dribbling from the skin. When Luna saw that Shinn had been wounded on his thigh from a bullet wound, she pulled the bandage off; she then put her fingers through the bullet hole clawing and twisting her finger in the whole causing more pain.

Lunamaria then brought out a cane, exposed Shinn's feet to bare flesh, she started whipping the soles as hard as she possibly could. This method was extremely painful, the next several minutes was only the sound of whipping and screaming. Lunamaria was enjoying herself and taking pleasure for other people's pain, "Aren't we having fun?" Luna laughed having the time of her life. She continued whipping Shinn's foot until the entire foot was drenched in blood. Lunamaria then started the painful process of whipping and screaming again with the other foot. The foot whipping stopped almost an hour later.

However, Lunamaria was far from over. She grabbed the pliers and laughed in sight of it. She gripped Shinn's toenail and yanked hard, tearing out the first toenail as Shinn screamed. He wanted the pain to end; he wished that Stellar was holding his hand in a beach somewhere in Hawaii instead of being in a miserable place lying helplessly in a torture chamber. Lunamaria used wooden skewers to get under the toenails so that the pliers could get a grip on the toenails, toenail after toenail, scream after scream; another half an hour passed before all his toenails were all torn off. Blood soaked Shinn's entire feet and yet Lunamaria was not finished.

Shinn was slowly passing out. Lunamaria got out a leaden whip and ran her fingers through it. Luna targeted Shinn's chest and stomach area stinging and leaving blood trailing all over his stomach, Shinn could do nothing but scream as the pain was excruciating and unbearable. Shinn thought he would spend his last moment in pain, dying and being tortured in a God forsaken torture chamber, "Stellar!" Shinn barely gasped out,  
"Oh, how sweet." Luna said, "Calling out to your girlfriend isn't going to help you." Luna said continuing to whip Shinn. Several minutes later, Shinn completely passed out.

However passing out was still not enough for him to avoid further torture. Lunamaria poured a bucket of water, bringing Shinn conscious again, "Don't pass out of me now my little toy." Luna said before continuing with the torture. Shinn wondered when the torture would finally end, he now wished that General Zala was his torturer, in fact he was wishing that he wasn't tortured at all. All that was heard was painful screaming and all that could be seen was blood; Shinn's blood. However, Lunamaria still continued with no regard to human life,  
"This is fun!" Lunamaria said cheerfully while stinging Shinn with the leaden whip, what she enjoyed most was inflicting pain and hearing Shinn scream. The blood aroused seemed to arouse her and yet she was not finished.

Shinn was once again subject with more torture and this time by electric shock. Shinn was wired up with a car battery. Lunamaria turned the switch on the battery as electricity jolted and zapped Shinn, the water made the electric shock even worse. Shinn was now weaker than ever. He was being tortured for hours by a relentless and cold hearted Lunamaria that naturally loved to torture. Shinn was now at his limit, Lunamaria would have continued torturing Shinn further had it not been for General Zala who stepped in after his short power nap,  
"Lunamaria, quit it. I wanted you to torture him, not to torture him to death; you are to leave ME with torturing MY victims to death." General Zala scolded at Lunamaria who paid little attention to him,  
"Now take this prisoner back, you can start by cleaning him up." General Zala ordered, Lunamaria didn't reply and merely snorted gracefully at General Zala.  
"Don't give me that attitude and do as you're told!" General Zala shouted.

After a while, Shinn was dragged back to the prisoner room by the guards. Shinn was much weaker than before and couldn't even crawl forward. Athrun and Cagalli were shocked by the least; shocked was just an understatement. Shinn couldn't talk much, the first thing he said to Athrun and Cagalli after his ordeal: the only thing he could say: "Got any water?" Shinn very weakly asked, hardly able to speak before he fainted from pain and exhaustion. Athrun and Cagalli could only watch, shocked, "My God!" Athrun was only able to reply, someone intervened:  
"Doesn't look like he's going to make it, he's lost too much blood." General Zala said without sympathy,  
"What did you do to him?" Athrun asked infuriated,  
"It wasn't me, it was somebody else." General Zala said,  
"What do you want father?" Athrun asked,  
"I want both of you to suffer." he said,  
"But since I don't want to harm that innocent child of yours, I have no choice but to spare your life for now." General Zala pointed at Cagalli, "For now, Athrun, you will suffer." General Zala said,

"Guards, take him to the interrogation room." General Zala ordered pointing to Athrun,  
"No please! Don't hurt him!" Cagalli begged in tears,  
"Silence!" General Zala shouted, with all the commotion Shinn suddenly woke up, "Wait." General Zala said to the guards,  
"I have a better idea." General Zala said staring at Shinn, "I won't make you suffer just yet Athrun, I'll deal with another matter first." General Zala said,  
"Guards. Take this boy back to the interrogation room." General Zala ordered pointing at Shinn. Shinn feared for his life once again,  
"No! No! No! Please! No more!" Shinn pleaded weakly while he was being dragged by the guards, seeing Shinn so desperate and almost sobbing for his life flared Athrun up. Athrun dashed towards his father punching him with a quick stroke. The guards dropped Shinn and used their rifle butts to club Athrun to the ground. General Zala got up furious; he grabbed Athrun and dragged him away while Shinn was left to stay and Cagalli still begging.

If it wasn't for Athrun, Shinn would have been tortured to death, however, now it was Athrun's turn to feel his father's wrath again. Athrun was horrified to see so much blood on and around the torture table; blood that once belonged to Shinn. Athrun struggled all that he could trying to resist the guards' power over him. Athrun resisted for minutes kicking and punching all he could until… *BANG*. General Zala shot Athrun on his right arm. The bullet wound felt like hot wire cutting deep into his arm. Athrun's entire right arm felt numb and could not move it more that a couple of inches upwards. The guards were this time able to overpower Athrun and chain him up to the table. Just as Athrun was about to suffer in the hands of his own father… *knock knock*,  
"Come in." General Zala authorized, Rey entered with a message,  
"Sir, the enemy sent more negotiators; they said that they want to negotiate for the remaining prisoners." Rey reported,  
"I'll be right out." General Zala said, General Zala then looked into the eyes of his son in hatred, "You will suffer for you betrayal Athrun…. Just wait." General Zala said before leaving the room.

Several minutes later, General Zala returned. Rey was keen to know what was going on:  
"What did they offer sir?" Rey asked,  
"They asked for all three prisoners in exchange for everyone to lay down their weapons while half of us are taken as prisoner, while the other half is released back into civilization." General Zala said,  
"I assume that you rejected the offer?" Rey asked,  
"I rejected, but they told me that they'd be back for more lucrative offers." General Zala said in satisfaction,  
"And that will give us more time." Rey said,  
"No one can assault this place without endangering the hostages, not even the best army in the world… that's why they won't attack, they'll try bargaining the prisoners out." General Zala concluded, "Oh and I have some unfinished business to take care of." General Zala said making his way to the interrogation room.

General Zala left Athrun in minor agony, the bullet needed to be removed. General Zala only just remembered the bullet wound that he had caused,  
"I almost forgot about that wound Athrun." General Zala said, "Why don't we try to get it out now?" General Zala evilly smiled. However, Athrun knew what was coming. Athrun's father roughly grabbed onto Athrun's right arm and tore into his flesh splitting the skin apart, blood pouring out as Patrick Zala pulls the bullet out, all Athrun could do is scream in pain. General Zala continued talking, "I saw you almost everyday sleeping with that whore of a girl." General Zala said, "And you were enjoying every second of it too." General Zala continued.

Electric shock discharges were applied to Athrun for more than ten minutes before General Zala stopped. General Zala then unchained Athrun and then started beating Athrun, stomping on every limb, beating Athrun like a punching bag. But before Athrun could be taken back, General Zala took out his pistol and shot Athrun in the right chest. Athrun was bleeding badly and the wound seemed fatal. But General Zala deliberately shot away from any vital organs to leave Athrun fighting for his life while slowly bleeding away.

Cagalli was upset; she was no medic but she dealt with Athrun's wound as best as she could. She ripped her clothing and wrapped it around Athrun's wound. His face was pale and blood continued to run down. Cagalli was now left in tears as she could only watch Athrun slowly fade away. She tried to slow the bleeding by applying pressure on the wound and tried to keep Athrun as warm as possible. She just wished that they would be rescued and that Athrun would survive; although the chances seemed to be a million against one. Cagalli managed to significantly slow down Athrun's bleeding, but she didn't know how long he had left to survive.

Cagalli stayed up all night looking after both Athrun and Shinn… mostly Athrun. The morning light was beginning to fill the windows. Cagalli still held onto Athrun.

The Colonel communicated with his troops on the phone: "Commence with the assault! I repeat commence with the assault!" the Colonel shouted into the phone, at once, rattles of machineguns and rifle fire were heard and then came a slight low frequency whizzing noise… almost immediately…

**Next chapter, one of the main characters will die, I promise you… stay tuned.**


	30. Chapter 29

**As promised, one of the main characters are going to tragically, but heroically die in this chapter... **

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The Colonel communicated to his troops on the phone: "Commence with the assault! I repeat commence with the assault!" the Colonel shouted into the phone, at once, rattles of machineguns and rifle fire were heard and then came a slight low frequency whizzing noise… almost immediately… a loud explosion on the church rooftop sent everyone inside the church to the ground.

The rattle of machineguns, the sound of grenades went off with a loud 'BANG' in series. As predicted, everything that the Colonel planned went according to plan. The diversionary attacks took little casualties, the east flank was almost blinded by the rising sun and could not retaliate effectively. The Colonel looked on from his binoculars at the back watching everyone perform their duties very well.

Kira continued blasting the rooftop of the church making everyone inside hug the ground in search for cover. Rey was on the ground inside the church next to General Zala,  
"General! Now would be a good time to escape!" Rey shouted,  
"Not until we kill the prisoners!" General Zala shouted back,  
"We can't get to them!" Rey shouted amongst the explosions,  
"AHHHHHHH!!!" General Zala screamed in anger and frustration,  
"Where's Lunamaria?" General Zala asked,  
"She's in the escape tunnels right now." Rey said loudly,  
"Then let's go… the prisoners are as good as dead anyway." General Zala said crawling to the back room with Rey trying to stay low from the explosions and the splinters and objects flying around everywhere.

All too soon, the lightning assault ended when the troopers burst in through the front and back doors, easily disposing the ZAFT soldiers that were on the ground hugging for cover. Every single ZAFT soldier was killed or wounded. Athrun, Cagalli and Shinn were immediately evacuated on jeep to a triage centre quickly set up by medics.

The Colonel was impressed with how the men performed,  
"What about our casualties?" the Colonel asked a runner,  
"Sir, we have seven men wounded sir." the runner replied,  
"And what of the prisoners?" the Colonel asked,  
"All 3 are secured sir." The runner said happily,  
"Excellent! Damn fine job!" the Colonel praised, "Alright then, let's go off to the triage centre and see how our wounded men are." the Colonel said jumping on his jeep with his runner. The assault was a tremendous success, no one was killed and very little were seriously wounded. Athrun and Shinn were the in the worst condition.

However, one surprise popped up; "Sir!" one soldier ran from around the corner, "General Taylor never left for London sir, he was found just minutes ago in an abandoned apartment with his pants down and his throat slit open." the soldier reported,  
"A spy or an enemy agent must have been up to this so that this group could take this town with relative ease." the Colonel said, "And what about the enemy's commanding officer?" the Colonel asked wanting to kill him personally,  
"He escaped the church sir, we found a sewer leading from the church to the edge of town." the soldier said, "However we are looking for them, we deployed scores of jeep patrols to search for them." the soldier explained.

At the triage centre, Dearka was working to fix both Athrun and Shinn. Everyone had to wait outside while Dearka operated on Athrun and Shinn. The people most concerned were Cagalli and Stellar whose boyfriends hung in the balance of the medical skills of Dearka. Not many people were too upset when they learnt that Yzak Joule was killed, they never knew him that much anyway and he never really liked the group, he just hung out with them over competition with Athrun; although he was a bad field commander, he made everyone laugh in some way with his foul mood and his mild reactions. Kira tried to cheer Cagalli and Stellar up:  
"Don't worry you two, Athrun and Shinn are both strong, they'll make it through this." Kira said, however, the reassurance had little impact on the morale. As minutes passed, the tension within the group increased.

The Colonel entered the triage wandering around and seeing how his wounded troops were doing. He personally started awarded Purple Heart medals to the wounded. He awarded one to someone who was shot in the ass. "Jeez son, what did you do? Did you try mooning the enemy to death?" the Colonel laughed. As the Colonel passed around, he saw one trooper extremely pale and unable to move, "What's wrong with him?" the Colonel asked the nearby medic,  
"Needs blood sir." the medic replied.

After waiting for more than an hour, Dearka finally came out, but with a grim look. Cagalli and Stellar both up at the front and waiting to hear the news. Dearka could only look down on himself,  
"Cagalli, I took the bullet out and stopped the internal bleeding… but…" Dearka said, sadly unable to find himself to continue,  
"But what?" Cagalli yelled worried,  
"But, he's just lost too much blood, he's conscious for now, but in an hour, he'll be… dead." Dearka said. Cagalli started sobbing,  
"Can't we find somebody with their same blood type?" Kira asked,  
"No one in this division know their own blood type, we could ask around, but by then, it'll be too late." Dearka concluded,  
"What about Shinn?" Stellar asked anxiously,  
"I'm sorry, but Shinn too has lost too much blood, he's not going to make it either." Dearka hung his head,  
"What's their blood type?" Cagalli asked,  
"They're both blood type O." Dearka said, "Look I'm sorry, but I did everything that I possibly could." Dearka said,  
"Who's a blood type O?" Kira asked in the group, no one replied. Both Kira and Cagalli knew that they we're A blood types, but that wouldn't be enough to save them.

The Colonel came out of one of the operating rooms,  
"Thanks for the blood Colonel." the medic thanked,  
"No worries, now off to give more Purple Hearts." the Colonel said a bit groggy and dizzy. He then came across the saddened group;  
"Purple Hearts for both Asuka and this blue dude." the Colonel threw the Purple Heart medals at an unconscious Shinn and a barely conscious Athrun, "Whoa! Don't tell me a funeral's taking place right now." the Colonel joked, Dearka then decided to talk with the Colonel,  
"Sir, this is no laughing matter… you see, both Athrun and Shinn has lost too much blood and in about an hour, they'll pass away." Dearka sadly explained,  
"Oh jeez, what's they're blood type? Maybe I can find some troopers with the same blood type." the Colonel said,  
"They're blood type O, I highly doubt that you'll find anyone, almost nobody in the entire division knows-" before Dearka could finish, he was hushed up by the Colonel,  
"Mr. Elsman, my blood is type O." the Colonel said,

"Sir?" Dearka said, not believing his ears,  
"It means: strap me up, these boys are getting some blood." The Colonel said,  
"Be aware that these two need a lot of blood, huge amounts that will leave you almost out of this world." Dearka said,  
"Hook me up already, I'm not here for a health spa." the Colonel said arrogantly,  
"Yes sir." Dearka saluted.

Everyone was happy that luck had found them a donor,  
"Stellar is thankful sir." Stellar smiled,  
"You have always been thankful Loussier." the Colonel smiled back. The Colonel was hooked up to two needles connected to a long plastic tube going into both Athrun and Shinn. Everyone was relieved to see that the Colonel would be risking his own health for the sake of his men. A nearby medic was bypassing until:  
"Colonel what are you doing? You've already underwent a blood transfer!" the medic yelled,  
"Oh shut up already, I will not let these damn good men die!" the Colonel yelled back,  
"Sir, if you go through with this, you will be the one dying sir!" the medic complained,  
"Then let me die with honour and dignity, I don't have much to live for anyway." the Colonel said, "First, get me my briefcase." the Colonel ordered, "It's in my jeep, I always carry it around with me." he continued.

The brown leather briefcase was carefully brought in while blood was quickly being extracted from the Colonel, he was already feeling dizzy and seeing double vision, "Loussier listen up." the Colonel said quietly, "Inside this briefcase is has everything that belongs to me." the Colonel said now breathing heavily, "Take a look inside, You'll find the title to my estate in Washington. It also has access to every dollar and every cent that I've earned over the years and also my steel mill business that was shut down before the war because I couldn't find anyone trusted at that time to run the mill… it's somewhere in Iowa…" the Colonel felt himself fading away and fast, his breathing was abnormal and he began to sway from side to side as his eye lids dropped,  
"Loussier, Asuka's sister is on her way to the estate already, she's on a ship headed there with a trusted friend of mine." the Colonel said falling off from his chair while every soldier quickly heard that their Colonel was dying and was crowding around in the triage centre, everyone helped the Colonel back on the chair, "Stellar, when Shinn wakes up, tell him that…" the Colonel said not able to finish but calling Shinn and Stellar by their first names for once, "Tell Shinn that…" the Colonel fell from his chair, Stellar ran beside,  
"What is it sir?" Stellar asked,  
"Tell Shinn that… I'm damn proud to have had him under my command…" the Colonel whispered, "Now I want you two to do me one last favour." the Colonel continued,  
"Shinn and Stellar would do anything for you." Stellar said,  
"I want you two to live a long and happy life in peace." the Colonel whispered, as blood continued streaming from the Colonel's weak body to Athrun and Shinn's bodies.

The Colonel fought for every last breath as he started to feel cold, "As for all soldiers that I've had the privilege to command… you're all damn fine men… and I'm glad to have served with each and… every one of you." the Colonel looked up as his soldiers who seemed to be blurred to him now. Soon after, with the last of his breath, the Colonel died in the arms of his soldiers that he loved the most. The room was filled with the tears of soldiers who were in disbelief that their favoured commander just died in front of them. Soldiers were carrying the corpse away for immediate burial; however some believed that he deserved a greater honour. An argument eventually erupted between soldiers on what to do with the Colonel's body. After hours of arguing amongst the soldiers; one that almost broke out to a full scale riot, everyone agreed to put his body in a coffin for now, until they found an honourable bury site for the young Colonel.

Athrun and Shinn were still not awake as of yet, but they were transferred to a public hospital in much better conditions than in a triage as both were in the worst conditions than any other. In the public hospital out of town up north, the colour in Shinn's once pale face started coming around again; which was a good sign. Athrun was the first to regain consciousness only to find Cagalli sleeping lightly on a chair next to him, Athrun decided to wake Cagalli up, "Athrun lightly tapped Cagalli on her shoulders. Cagalli still in her dreams:

"Athrun!" Cagalli yelled,  
"Sorry to wake you, but you look like you need to get some real sleep." Athrun said,  
"I'm fine, I've had plenty." Cagalli said rubbing her eyes, "When did you wake up?" Cagalli asked,  
"Just now." Athrun replied,  
"Hold on you must be hungry, I'll go get you some food." Cagalli said jumping off her chair,  
"Don't worry, I'm not hungry." Athrun dully replied, but his reply couldn't get to her before Cagalli bolted off, but Cagalli popped her head around the corner again,  
"What do you want in your sandwiches? Cheese and ham or steak?" Cagalli asked quickly,  
"It's alright, I'm not hungry… I'm fine." Athrun said. However Cagalli wasn't convinced, she waltzed right over to Athrun's bedside and slapped him in anger,  
"Athrun Zala, do not tell me that you're fine, if it wasn't for the Colonel sacrificing his life so that you and Shinn could live, you wouldn't even be here." Cagalli yelled with slight tears rolling down her cheeks,  
"I'm sorry Cagalli…" Athrun said,  
"I could have lost you damn it…" Cagalli said,  
"I did what I did so that I can sacrifice myself for you and our child, father could have hurt you." Athrun spoke up,  
"Don't say things like that Athrun… I don't want you to die for me… I've seen too many people die in my name… I want you to live for me." Cagalli explained. Athrun saw her point, he felt so ashamed of putting Cagalli through that pain, he never wanted to see Cagalli like that again,  
"Cagalli please, I love you too much that I can't bear losing you." Athrun said,  
"So you'd throw your own life away?" Cagalli screamed, Athrun had no reply to this, Cagalli once again tried to slap Athrun, however Athrun caught her hand,  
"Let go!" Cagalli squealed, however Athrun ignored her and applied a stronger grip on her hand as Cagalli winced in pain. Athrun pulled Cagalli into an aggressive kiss as their lips locked. This wasn't a romantic kiss; it was a kiss of pain and suffering being shared between the two. As the two parted,  
"I'm sorry Athrun, I should have been more understanding." Cagalli stated with a disappointed expression,  
"I feel like having steak in my sandwiches Cagalli." Athrun smiled as he wiped off the hot tears running down Cagalli's cheek.

In the other room, Shinn had still not awake although the colour on his face seemed evident that he was recovering rapidly. Stellar was in his room with a brown leather suitcase waiting for a motionless Shinn to wake up. Stellar was unsure whether Shinn was going to wake up or not. Her answer came shortly when Shinn opened his eyes for the first time in almost a day. He was expecting to be on a torture table, instead he found himself in a warm bed with Stellar right next to him. For a moment, he thought he had died and gone to Heaven. Shinn blinked his eyes for a couple of seconds,  
"Stellar?" Shinn whispered, Stellar quickly and surprisingly turned to face Shinn,  
"Shinn!" Stellar yelled ecstatically, hugging Shinn where he lay,  
"Ouch! Stellar that hurts." Shinn said as Stellar was hugging him where the leaden whip lashes were that he had received from Lunamaria. Shinn was still dazed,  
"What happened?" Shinn asked confusedly, "I surely thought I was dead." Shinn stated,  
"Shinn… the Colonel died giving you and Athrun blood." Stellar recalled sadly,  
"What?" Shinn said disbelievingly,  
"The Colonel wanted to tell you that he's proud of having Shinn under his command…" Stellar said, "And that he wish Shinn and Stellar a happy life in peace." Stellar continued. Shinn almost seemed as if he had lost another family member,  
"The Colonel left us everything he had owned." Stellar said holding up the suitcase. Shinn wondered again, "What about Mayu?" Shinn asked almost getting up,  
"Mayu is safe, Mayu is on her way to the Colonel's old estate in Washington." Stellar said. Stellar saw the injuries that Shinn received from the tortures and was utterly shocked, "What did they do to Shinn?" Stellar asked in horror,  
"Stellar, don't worry about me… everything will be okay." Shinn held Stellar's hand with reassurance and comfort,  
"Stellar will get Shinn something to eat." Stellar said cheerfully,  
"That would be great." Shinn said with a smile. He blushed wondering if Stellar would feed him.

A furious General Zala was rethinking what went wrong. General Zala, Rey and Lunamaria were the only survivors of the assault,  
"At least we took out Athrun and that wretched airborne trooper." General Zala said,  
"We don't know that sir, they could be alive." Rey said angrily,  
"Don't raise your voice at me!" General Zala shouted, "The plan went according to plan… what went wrong?!?!?!" a furious General Zala banged his fists on a table,  
"We were doomed from the start, the enemy commander is a brilliant tactician, we didn't have a chance in the world." Rey said,  
"He was probably the tactical mastermind behind that assault at the V2 rocket compounds, the castle of Colditz and eventually fueled our defeat." Rey said with intelligence reports recorded in top secret documents that Rey carries around,  
"We need to lick our wounds and start over again." General Zala persisted,  
"Sir we lost almost 50 men in a single assault." Rey stated with conviction, "We can't start over facing a military genius, we won't have chance of mounting a successful guerilla warfare with that commander on our case, next time, he'll probably finish us off." Rey pointed out. At this time Lunamaria overheard the conversation, as a spy she was out spying enemy activity,  
"We do have a chance… I just learnt that the commander died today." Lunamaria said,  
"What? Are you serious?" Rey said in disbelief; Lunamaria nodded with a smile, "And the your son and that cute airborne trooper that I had the privilege of torturing are both still alive; they're in a public hospital." Lunamaria reported,  
"Good." General Zala said, "What are you two waiting for?" General Zala asked rhetorically, "Find more disbanded ZAFT soldiers." General Zala hurried the two,  
"Sir we can't, there probably is no more men to recruit!" Rey raised his voice. General Zala thought for a moment,  
"You're right, we can't… but I have a better idea." General Zala grinned evilly.

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**Not who you guys thought it would be huh? ;)  
I promise you more action between the protagonists and the antagonists (Good guys vs the bad guys ONLY!!!)  
I will excite you! Delight you! Enlight you... in the chapters to come.**


	31. Chapter 30

**Sorry I haven't updated in… who knows how long, but better late than never right?**

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Not everyone had the points they needed to get discharged in order to be shipped back home. In fact most of the men didn't have the points; however, Kira was the only one that had the points and decided that he'd had enough of war and decided to leave the next day with Lacus. However, Athrun's story was different. He didn't exist as an official Allied soldier, no records of him were existent, so they had to either try to smuggle him out of the warzone or try to forge papers to show that he existed as an Allied soldier and that he had the points required to get home… wherever that was. Since the Colonel was deceased, they could no longer get him to forge the papers required for Athrun.

The question loomed over the heads of the group. How do they forge military documentation? If they didn't, Athrun would eventually be found out and branded an enemy spy and enemy spies were usually executed immediately or interrogated for information before being executed. A slight prepared miracle happened to appear from the deceased Colonel. When Shinn was looking through the Colonel's belongings that he was given, he found a light brown folder with documentation and seals of approval. There was also a note stuck on the front that said: "Military documentation, give this to Zala."

When the documents were given to Athrun from Stellar at his hospital bed, Athrun was relieved. When he looked inside, it had everything that a military file was expected to have: name, rank, serial number. It also had events that he had participated in as an airborne trooper and was claimed to have been wounded twice while receiving no purple hearts. The points he had were just short to get him discharged from the army and back off to home; where ever that may be.

Only after days of recovering in the hospital, Athrun decided to walk around even in his condition. Cagalli protested that he stays in the hospital, but he argued that he would rather rest up on a more comfortable bed somewhere in an apartment where he could comfortably recover, however he was denied of such requests. Cagalli made sure that he would stay put in his hospital bed and threatened to knock him out cold if she had to. Athrun had no choice but to stay and simply said nothing.

On the other hand, Shinn was feeling no better than he was days earlier; he was after all brutally tortured. All Shinn did was sleep for hours after hours. At times he would only eat once a day, although he was making a slow recovery, he was slowly and surely getting better. Events such as these triggered alarms in the minds of every Allied occupier and stepped up on their defenses just in case of another guerilla unit tries attempting to take entire towns. Shinn's whip marks on his chest area were still stinging and what stood in his mind was some sort of revenge on the person that did this to him. Shinn turned his head towards the window with the sunshine irritating his face as it heat him up. His cold eyes promised to get revenge on Lunamaria whom Shinn was sure that had escaped from the quick assault. Everyday Stellar would come by and drop off some flowers; daisies mostly, her shining magenta eyes sparkled with hope seeing Shinn recovering, although slowly, whereas Athrun could already stand on his two solid feet… then again, Athrun wasn't as badly tortured as Athrun had been.

No one wanted to meet their new commanding officer. They'd honestly much rather have had their previous commander. However, good news was just around the corner. As everyone in the entire town was gathered up, the commanding officer made a couple of announcements that was heart stopping:  
"Alright men listen up!" the commanding officer shouted amongst the men with his hands behind his back, "I have some good news and some bad news. Bad news is that everyone will have to be stuck in this boring town for two weeks or so." the commanding officer shouted holding up two fingers, "However, the good news is that… every single one of you will be going home in a month on your own discretion." the officer said slowly, "Here's where the war really ends boys… we're all going home." the commander said in a low tone but yet a happy one. Everyone cheered and yelled in excitement and started patting each other on the backs. The wounded would be informed later on, but Stellar ran ahead of everybody to tell the good news to Athrun and Shinn.

However, one event truly rattled the morale of the fighting man and shook the security of the town. One boy that was no older than ten went up to a soldier on duty and like every other child, he had asked for chocolate, when the soldier dug inside his pack for chocolate, the boy pulled out a handgun and shot the soldier. The boy was still patriotic about the ideals and continued to fight. The boy was later shot while running away and the soldier was killed before a medic could treat him. That boy was given the handgun and manipulated by General Zala to continue fighting and resisting the enemy. Now that General Zala had no more soldiers willing to follow him, little fanatical boys were sent in instead. Even though the war was over, guerilla warfare continued, however it was on a very minimal scale.

General Zala and his team was back to square one and planning another daring plan for guerilla warfare… on General Zala's part, it was personal; it was revenge that drove him against Athrun and Cagalli and the airborne troopers that had raided the Colditz castle destroying the last vestiges of his so called life. However, they did manage to find another very promising member. This new member came from a military background from an elite group of soldiers; one of the best groups in the entire PLANT's. He was called Heine Westenfluss: a dashing young lad with emerald green eyes and pale orange hair. Lunamaria liked calling him a "ginger", but she felt that she had a mild crush on his sleek looks for a dashing young lad. General Zala hand picked Heine as he was after all his nephew; Athrun's cousin.

General Zala had picked Heine for a reason, not just to help him out, but he also knew that Heine secretly despised Athrun and felt underrated as Athrun was given more credit and more recognition than Heine during their military career. Heine was overjoyed when hearing that Athrun had betrayed the PLANT's for some pretty little Princess of the enemy. Although Heine didn't believe in the PLANT's regime in exterminating the naturals, Heine jumped at the chance in joining his uncles group and to take some pleasure in destroying Athrun himself. Heine and Rey didn't get along very well as their personalities contradicted their comradeship. Rey was an extreme idealist in favour of the PLANT's ideas whereas Heine didn't give a rat's hind side about the ideals and was more concerned with drinking tea and acting like a spoiled rich boy living in a mansion doing whatever he wanted and whenever he wanted. General Zala didn't mind as long as he was still obeying direct orders from him.

Another day, another devious plan was being formulated. This plan was based around the same plan as the previous one just with only a few members,  
"Alright, the last plan was an absolute failure that only resulted in the deaths of 50 irreplaceable men." General Zala debriefed,  
"No kidding, we should have just negotiated." Lunamaria cheekily said, General Zala ignored her comment,  
"This time, our plan won't fail." General Zala said getting out a piece of paper, "I have a letter here with me from another General hiding his 30 men in another town east of this one. We're to link up with him and assault a very lucrative target." General Zala said,  
"So what exactly is this target uncle?" Heine asked with a calm and plain expression,  
"A lightly defended HQ surrounded by supply dumps and many vehicles as reported." General Zala said referring to the letter received,  
"So here is the plan…" General Zala said slowly and strongly, "We gather some intelligence on enemy positions and units around this area, gather weapons, ammo, more men and equipment." General Zala planned,  
"Basically you want us to repeat phases one and two?" Rey asked,  
"That's right." General Zala said,  
"So we're not going to change anything at all?" Rey continued,  
"I'll get to that later on, for now everyone just complete phases one and two." General Zala ordered with a grim face, "This time, their little Colonel can't save them, so my plan can't fail us this time, know that there is no room for one little failure."

Athrun hated hospital food, although they looked nice, most seemed to taste like plastic and processed garbage. So he pleaded for Cagalli to get him some normal food as he just couldn't get the food down.  
"What's so bad with this stuff?" Cagalli asked pointing at Athrun's plastic plate,  
"It tastes absolutely horrible, I can't eat this stuff." Athrun said,  
"There's nothing wrong with mashed potatoes, roast beef and creamed peas… and look they even poured some gravy in for you." Cagalli protested, "You're lucky you know, some hospitals serve worse food than this, some mix fruit in chicken for damn sakes!" Cagalli said, "What are you, some rich boy living in a mansion with maids running around doing everything for you?" Cagalli said loudly,  
"Then why don't you try some?" Athrun said picking up a folk and shoving a whole load of mashed potato and gravy into Cagalli's mouth, Cagalli immediately spat it out as a result of the taste, "Eww, gross!" Cagalli exclaimed stealing Athrun's glass of water and washing the unsatisfactory taste down,  
"I told you so." Athrun smirked at the sight of Cagalli,  
"Alright, what do you want?" Cagalli asked rolling her tongue around her mouth,  
"Bacon and cheese sandwich." Athrun said, however Cagalli was less than satisfied,  
"Come on, you need some fruits and vegetables in your food if you want to get better." Cagalli complained,  
"Just add some canned peaches then." Athrun said,  
"What's the magic word?" Cagalli teased,  
"Please… thank you… abbra kadabbra…" Athrun teased back,  
"Fine, just eat your damn hospital food then." Cagalli snorted heading for the door out,  
"Ohh pleeeasee!" Athrun plead with puppy dog eyes which made Cagalli laugh,  
"Oh fine, just don't do anything reckless." Cagalli continued laughing.

Soon, Kira and Lacus decided to give Athrun a visit, Kira popped by with a large bag of fish and chips,  
"Hey Athrun, I know how unappetizing hospital food can be so I brought you this." Kira said placing the bag next to Athrun on the table,  
"Thanks Kira." Athrun smiled, "So you all packed and ready to get going home?" Athrun asked,  
"Nah, I decided to wait for the next couple of weeks." Kira said,  
"Why wait?" Athrun asked,  
"So I can keep my eyes on you and Cagalli." Kira simply stated. Athrun then realized that Athrun would have to explain to Kira somehow that Cagalli was pregnant, he knew that if he did, Kira would kill him,  
"Why the serious face? Did you think you were gonna party everyday with Cagalli while I was gone? You can forget it pal." Kira laughed,  
"Uh, yeah… um… Kira, I have to tell you something." Athrun said nervously and gulping hard,  
"What?" Kira asked suspiciously,  
"I don't know how to explain this but… but… I… Cagalli… um…" Athrun started sweating and turning red,  
"What, what, what, what, what???" Kira asked now extremely anxious. Just as Athrun was going to blurt it out, Cagalli stepped in,  
"Here's your lunch Athrun." Cagalli said, but seeing that bag of fish and chips,  
"Hey! What is this?" Cagalli yelled, "I should have just let you eat hospital food." Cagalli said, "Now you're going to eat the fish and chips and finish the bacon and cheese sandwich, no excuses." Cagalli said angrily.

"Athrun, you were going to tell me something?" Kira asked,  
"Uh, yeah… um as I was saying before… Cagalli… she's…" Athrun said nervously, but Cagalli knew what Athrun was going to say and quickly interrupted,  
"Oh yes! Um… Athrun and I decided to get married this month." Cagalli said,  
"What?!?!" Kira shouted, "No that's insane, you two have met for how long?" Kira blurted, but Lacus was stopping him,  
"Come on Kira, let's just take a short walk and calm down." Lacus said calmly, Kira continued blurting out in disbelief and Lacus walked Kira out of the room giving Athrun and Cagalli some time to devise a plan,  
"What do you think you're doing?" Athrun whispered angrily,  
"Don't tell Kira that I'm pregnant, Listen, we can get married this month and then tell Kira that I got pregnant on the honeymoon." Cagalli planned,  
"Hey that could actually work." Athrun said surprised by Cagalli's cunning plan.

Dearka and Miriallia then walked in to greet Athrun and Cagalli. Dearka looked a bit embarrassed and frustrated with himself,  
"Hey you two." Miri greeted, "Dearka has something to tell you two." Miri said nudging Dearka, "Well, go on Dearka." Miri said. Dearka slowly walked up,  
"Err, I don't know how to say this… but I think I made a mistake." Dearka smiled nervously,  
"What are you talking about Dearka?" Athrun asked,  
"When I told Cagalli that she was pregnant… she might not be after all." Dearka said,  
"What?" Athrun and Cagalli said in unison,  
"I made a mistake, you see, I mixed the situation up with another medical diagnosis." Dearka explained,  
"Idiot!" Cagalli yelled,  
"At least Kira won't kill us." Athrun sighed in relief,  
"But if Dearka made the mistake with me, then are you really pregnant too Miri?" Cagalli asked,  
"I'm still pregnant, I've got a small lump forming already." Miri stroked her stomach gently,  
"You should discharge from the army as a field nurse then right?" Cagalli said, Miri nodded,  
"Dearka and I are going to leave in a couple of days back to the states, after the baby comes out, Dearka will go off to New Zealand and find a home for us across an open field somewhere." Miri explained,  
"I don't know about New Zealand, New Zealanders talk all funny and ride around on kangaroos and have a country originating from criminal backgrounds." Cagalli protested,  
"That's Australia, it's quite common to get Australians and New Zealanders mixed up, New Zealand has no kangaroos; only in zoos or something." Miri explained,  
"Anyway we heard that Lacus is going home too." Dearka stated, "Oh well, we better be going now. Good talk, later guys." Dearka and Miri waved.

When Kira came back,  
"So what did you two say again? That you were going to get married." Kira said calmly this time, Athrun and Cagalli both stared at each other for a moment,  
"Nah, we decided not to anymore." Athrun said coolly,  
"Yeah, we figured that it's too early." Cagalli said,  
"Alright then… Oh and Lacus is going back to the states tomorrow." Kira said,  
"We know, Dearka told us earlier." Athrun said taking a bite from his bacon and cheese sandwich which was now cold,  
"Shouldn't you go with her Kira?" Cagalli asked, "You do have enough points to get discharged."  
"That's why I came back to tell you that Lacus and I both leave in two days." Kira said with a smile,  
"That's great bro, but didn't you tell me that you were going to stay?" Athrun asked,

"I changed my mind I guess." Kira said scratching his head,  
"I'm happy for you bro." Athrun smiled back,

"Thanks. Oh and another thing. Cagalli, the United Nations have decided to compensate you for the loss of the Orb union. They're paying you for doing nothing; isn't that great." Kira smiled,  
"Great, but I'd rather earn my keep." Cagalli retorted,  
"That's too bad." Kira replied back cheekily, "Anyway, I will see you two in… another life… Bon voyage." Kira winked with a smiled while he tooted out of the hospital room happily.

* * *

A few days later, Athrun tried to get out of hospital and complained that the beds were too uncomfortable, but he was not cleared to leave. Although Athrun was feeling tip off the top, he was ordered to stay another day before being cleared to leave. During that time, Kira, Lacus, Dearka, Miriallia had all left for the states. Shinn was feeling much better and for once, he could start walking again; although only very barely. And unknown to them was a nurse lurking in the background stalking and spying on their every move. A nurse with short, dark pink hair and purple eyes with one evil intension was watching their every move. Lunamaria tried her best to stay away from Shinn just in case Shinn recognized her and blew her cover.

Rey on the other hand was dressed in American military uniform spying out the entire town and finding the strong and weak points as well as the strategic areas. Heine was still at the abandoned house drinking tea like a: 'retarded little rich boy' as described by Rey. Conflict between them intensified as Heine called Rey's father: Gilbert Durandal a: 'money scribbling manipulator', the two then started brawling at each other and had to be broken up by General Zala. General Zala would occasionally send in brainwashed children with handguns to walk up to soldiers and shoot them, fortunately, almost all of them backed down and ran back home.

The information needed was collected by sunset and everyone was ready to strike. After General Zala briefed his group of his plan, he excitedly stated: "Try to use knives; guns will just alert the enemy and jeopardize our entire mission." General Zala said. Heine was looking rather calm and relaxed drinking his cup of tea (again), now almost empty,

"Go get me some more tea you pimp." Heine bullied Rey with a grin,  
"I'm not your mother asshole! Go fetch your own goddamn tea!" Rey spat back with an even more disgusted expression. General Zala didn't buy any of it,  
"Shut up both of you and pay attention." General Zala yelled for order, "Lunamaria, you will be taking out that girl named 'Loussier' or whoever you reported." General Zala ordered,  
"Aw, but I wanted to enjoy torturing that cute boy a little more." Luna complained,  
"Too bad, Rey's gonna be killing that 'cute little boy', so you can forget about it." General Zala said,  
"Heine, your task is to kill Athrun and bring his head to me." General Zala evilly smiled,  
"Ah, bravo then." Heine replied with a grin,  
"Afterwards, you take your explosives and then… you know what to do then." General Zala planned,  
"Why do we have to blow the hospital up sir?" Rey asked, he'd much rather blow up barracks or HQ's,  
"To distract the enemy while we make our escape and being able to link up with our ally to the east." General Zala stated.

"Alright, everyone ready?" General Zala asked,  
"Not with this lunatic covering my back, he'll probably stab me." Heine complained talking about Rey,  
"Expect the worst from me you spoiled, retarded, clumsy, oafish, redneck bastard!" Rey shot back angrily,  
"Shut up you two, I swear if I hear you two at it again, I will shoot you both." General Zala threatened, "Just go! Finish the task at hand, terminate your targets."

**

* * *

****Don't forget to review, it's important that I know if something is wrong, or something… here's a message to everyone… if someone is giving you a hard time, just say this: "Sounds to me like you need Jesus in your life."**


	32. Chapter 31

A kamikaze pilot randomly came from the sky, lost control and General Zala and his squad of maniacs all died in a freak accident; blown to smithereens, never to be seen again.

Everyone else lived happily ever after, except for Yzak who laughed himself to death after seeing someone choke on a steak… Ironically, he himself choked on his own laughter and died as a result.

THE END!


End file.
